Matchmaker
by distantmuse
Summary: What if, instead of Addison and Derek, it had been Addison and Mark who got together in med school? What happens when best friends discover that they're something more? How would their lives have been different? Maddison with Maddek friendship. Complete
1. Chapter 1

_Basically, this is Addison/Derek/Mark's last summer before med school starts, and the events that occur with it, including Addison's obsession with trying to hook her two boys up on dates with girls. _

_Med school era Addison/Derek/Mark has always intrigued me, so that's where this is coming from… But you'll see early on that it's a bit of a different setting and different circumstances than how people usually write them in med school._

_As part of my "Get the hell out of graduate school by next year" plan, I am taking an independent study on Jane Austen. I got inspired, and you'll see some elements of _Emma_ if you've read it. If not, perhaps you'll recognize some themes from _Clueless,_ which is based on _Emma._ If you've neither read _Emma, _nor seen _Clueless, _get off the site and do so. Only kidding. :)_

_I know you guys want to know if it's Addek or Maddison, but at this point, I honestly have no clue what it is. It will become one or the other. These guys write themselves sometimes. They'll tell me what it should be. ;)_

_As always, I don't own anything. Woe is me. :( Please don't sue. Now I will shut up and let them talk._

_

* * *

_Addison Forbes Montgomery, beautiful, charming, and wealthy, had lived nearly twenty-two years in the world with very little to distress her – except for Mark Sloan, who enjoyed being a pain in her ass. 

Though they hadn't figured it out until many years later, Mark and Addison's families had been friends for years – their fathers had even been tennis partners at one point in time. Mark and Addison had crossed paths several times as children at various dinner parties and social functions, but had never made any long-term friendship efforts, since they attended private schools on opposite sides of town.

But in college, that changed. Addison and Mark were the president and vice-president (respectively) of the Columbia's Red Cross Club. Both had chosen the extra-curricular activity two years before because they thought it would look good on medical school applications. It did.

The two quickly became friends. Addison trusted very few women – she'd been backstabbed too much in high school. The female friends that she did have were very close ones, but she always had more fun with "the guys."

One Friday in May of 1992, the duo burst out the door of the science building and into the sunshine, which was only around at the beginning of the fall semester and the end of the spring semester, replaced by harsh New York winters. Addison quickly pushed a pair of tortoiseshell Prada shades onto her face to keep from squinting as they walked across campus.

"So, that was our last final." Mark said, looping an arm around Addison's shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "How does it feel to be done with undergrad?"

"Feels like we still have four years of college left." Addison replied honestly.

Mark dropped his arm from around her and scowled. "You could ruin a wet dream, Addie. You do know that, right?"

"I do what I can." Addison shrugged.

Mark ignored her surliness. "It's going to be an awesome summer, though. You'll finally get to meet Derek." Mark declared, happy at the thought of his two best friends meeting. "And we'll all be here together for med school. Of course, you_ could_ have met him last summer, but…"

Addison rolled her eyes. "Oh, pardon me! I'm sorry that I studied abroad in France instead of meeting your friend from Stanford, Mark."

"_Best_ friend from Stanford." Mark emphasized. "You're going to love him."

"Is he anything like you?" Addison asked.

"Hmm… Not really." Mark said.

"Then I probably will." Addison said with a sly smile that earned her a jab in the ribs from Mark. "So, I've been meaning to tell you about this girl named Laura…"

"Oh no, no, no!" Mark protested. "No more setting me up on dates. Not gonna happen."

"Aw, come on Mark…" Addison whined. "Please?"

Mark couldn't help but notice Addison's lips. She expressed more emotion with them than any other girl he'd ever known – at that moment, they were curved down into a little pout. It made him want to grab her and kiss her, hard – best friend or not, she was gorgeous, and he was male.

But he shook that out of his head, remembering the last time that she had set him up on a date.

"No." Mark said again, more firmly. "Remember last week? When you set me up with Juanita from your women's studies class? She turned out to be 35 and she had two kids, whom she brought with her, by the way…"

"Two kids?! I didn't know she had t—" Addison lips formed a small "o." "Um… What's the Spanish word for 'kid,' Mark?"

Mark gritted his teeth. "'Hijo'."

Addison's cheeks turned to match her hair. "Oh… Oh no… I thought she said, 'Tengo dos ojos.' I wondered why she was telling me that she had two eyes…"

Mark glared at her and she backed away slowly. "Come on, Mark! You know I'm not any good at Spanish! I dropped it freshman year and switched back to French!"

"I will never let you set me up on a date again." Mark reiterated.

"What about Caitlin and Rick?" Addison challenged. "I hooked _them_ up, and they're getting married this July." She tipped her sunglasses down to look him in the eye and gave him a smug grin.

"Yes, but they're… Ugly." Mark said. "They couldn't have found anyone but each other."

Addison swatted his arm. "That's shallow!"

Mark shrugged. "I'm just being honest. She needs a nose job. And they both need liposuction."

"You're an ass. I'm just tired of you making me hang out with these stupid Barbie dolls that you insist on dating." Addison grumbled. "I'd like to see you meet a woman of actual substance."

"Hey, I date girls with substance, thanks very much. Remember Lily? She had substance." Mark smirked, remembering the model's body more than any substance she might have had.

"No, Lily had tits and ass." Addison corrected.

"What can I say? I'm a tits and ass man. Look, I'm handsome and charming and I can find my own women, Ads." Mark said.

"I hope you're not telling them how handsome and charming that you think you are… But that would explain the quality issue that you're having." Addison sniffed.

"Why do I even hang out with you?" Mark threw up his hands. "All you do is criticize me!"

"Because I'm the only girl you know who will play Super Nintendo with you?" Addison suggested. Mark rolled his eyes.

"Hey, wait up!" a female voice behind them called.

A curvy, dark-haired junior literature major bounded toward them. Addison had met Hallie Smith in a British literature class that she took as an elective as a sophomore. After calling each other and whining about their assignments a few times, and a few nights out drinking, they had become close friends.

Hallie was at Columbia by the grace of scholarships, financial aid, and possibly because she was from Appalachia, which was treated by the university as an area it would like to have included in its heir "quota."

Hallie frequently whined that she had no idea why she was at Columbia with rich, spoiled trust fund babies (always forgetting that Addison was one of the silver-spoon born "brats" that she complained about, because Addison never acted the part). She often felt out of place and lost in New York City; so Addison, a native, had taken her under her wing, helping her figure out city life. Even so, Hallie was frequently homesick, missing the friendlier people and slower-paced lifestyle of her home state. Once, Hallie had spent an entire semester trying to convince Addison that a hot dog with beanless chili, mustard, coleslaw, and raw onions was far better than any doused in cheese. Addison had finally tried it to get her to shut up (though slaw on a hot dog was still really weird to her), and she had to admit that it was good.

"Hey, Hallie." Addison greeted her.

"Hey, Hal." Mark added.

Mark liked Hallie more than any of Addison's other friends. She had gained his respect when he learned through a drunken revelation that she had once had sex with a teaching assistant in one of the university's classrooms.

"I'm going to try to catch Dr. Conner and ask about my chem grade. But Sunday… You'll go with me to the airport to pick up Derek?" Mark asked.

Addison nodded. "I'll be there."

Mark flashed her a grin. "Later, babe. See ya, Hal." He turned and took off down another sidewalk.

"He totally wants you." Hallie observed in her soft southern drawl. "You should go out with him."

Addison rolled her eyes. They'd had that conversation many times before, and Addison always had the same response. "You think I want to be another Mark Sloan conquest? Please."

Hallie watched Mark's retreating figure, her eyes pausing for a moment to admire his ass (which she had once declared the finest she'd ever seen). "I don't think it'd be that way with you, Addie."

"It would." Addison insisted. "It's always the same with Mark. Lunch?"

Hallie shook her head in defeat. "Whatever you say, dear."

* * *

_So, what do you think:)_

_In the next chapter, Derek will arrive (duh)._

_Kudos to you if you can figure out what state Hallie is from based on how she likes her hot dogs (and by the way, that IS the best way to have them). :)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Some people are asking if any other characters will be in the fic. In a word, no, unless I can fit Richard in. Meredith and the interns would be about 10-11 when this is all going on, and I don't want to go _that _AU._

_I'm basing Mark and Derek off of guys I know who are their age at this point in the story, and some of my real college experiences… Just remember, they're supposed to be young and slightly stupid – not the incredible older surgeons that we see them as on the show. It terrifies me to think that there are some universities out there that are currently allowing the guys I went to high school with to handle scalpels…_

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

"He landed." Addison observed from the arrivals and departures board at JFK.

"I can't wait to see him." Mark said. "I haven't seen him since Christmas. We were like brothers growing up."

Addison listened patiently, though she had already heard this description of Derek more times than she could count. She thought it was cute that they were so close.

"Derek!" Mark spotted his friend in the baggage claim area and quickly approached him, pulling him into what Addison liked to call a "man-hug."

"Heyyy!" Derek greeted him.

Addison hung back from the scene, admiring Derek's handsome appearance until the two separated. Mark placed his hand on Addison's back and guided her to Derek. "This is Addison Montgomery."

"It's great to meet you, finally." Derek wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a light squeeze. "I've heard a lot about you from Mark, but he didn't mention that you're so beautiful."

"Oh…" Addison flushed the color of her hair and stared at the ground. "Um, thanks…"

"I did too!" Mark protested indignantly. "I told you that she was really hot and…"

Mark trailed off, realizing from Derek's smirk that he'd been duped into an admission. "I'd forgotten that you're an asshole."

Addison looked back up and just shook her head at the two. She paused when her eyes fell on someone familiar, a flight attendant. "Hey, that's my friend Julie, from high school. I'm going to go say hi."

"You're smoother with the ladies than I remember." Mark said. "You're almost… Charming. You made her blush. Addison doesn't blush that often."

Derek shrugged. "I had my share of girlfriends out in California."

"Really?" Mark raised an eyebrow. Derek had always been the cute but awkward type who never got the girl.

"Uh-huh… So… She's hot." Derek said, watching Addison with the young flight attendant.

"Yeah, she is." Mark agreed.

"And you've never tried anything with her?" Derek asked dubiously.

Mark shook his head. "No… No, I haven't."

"So you wouldn't mind if I asked her out sometime?"

"You just met her!" Mark exclaimed. Of course, _he_ was the type to think of a girl he'd just met that way, but he was much more protective of Addison.

"So?"

Mark gave him a doubtful side glance. "Good luck with that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well… I don't know what to make of Addie and her dating situation." Mark explained. "She dated this one guy, Skippy, from her junior year of high school all through college. Nice enough kid… Huge dork, weird obsession with Star Wars, but nice kid. Treated her like gold. Anyway, he went to Tiffany's last semester and bought her this gorgeous engagement ring and…."

"What?" Derek prodded.

"She turned him down."

Derek raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Mark shrugged. "We don't know. Hallie – that's her roommate – and I have tried and tried to ask her what happened, but she won't talk about it."

"That's… Odd." Derek finally said.

"Yeah. So that's why I don't know what to tell you about her. I would have pegged her for the commitment type, but then she went and turned down a proposal from someone she dated for like 5 years… So I have no idea."

"Here she comes." Derek said, watching the redhead bounce back over to them.

"Let's get your stuff home, and then we can go out." Mark suggested.

"Lazy Lizard?" Derek asked with a grin, naming his favorite bar.

Mark clapped his hand on Derek's shoulder. "If that's where you want to go man, that's where we'll go."

* * *

Addison found herself out at Lazy Lizard with the two men a couple of hours later, wondering how she'd gotten herself into such a situation. Hallie had a date with the lead singer of a grunge band, and couldn't be there to rescue her. None of her other girlfriends had been available either. So, there she was, in a bar with Derek and Mark.

More correctly, she was in a nightclub with Derek, since Mark had ditched them to chat up a woman in a short skirt and a low-cut tank top.

"He has a thing for blondes." Addison rolled her eyes and bit into the pulp of the lime wedge that she'd extracted from her vodka and tonic without making a puckered face.

"His mom's blonde." Derek recalled.

"Did hers come from a bottle of peroxide?" Addison asked. "Because that girl's definitely did."

"You jealous?" Derek asked, amused.

Addison wrinkled her nose. "Of _that_ girl? And Mark? Please." She heard the girl giggle, and turned to look back at the pair. "What the hell is he doing?"

Derek took a gulp of his beer, and observed Mark, who was tossing cocktail peanuts into the front of the girl's shirt. "He's playing boobie basketball."

Addison whipped her head back around to look at Derek. "I'm sorry?"

"It's called boobie basketball… You toss something, in this case peanuts, down a girl's shirt. If you can get the item between the cleavage, you score." Derek said, setting down his beer.

"That's…" Addison couldn't find the words to describe what she thought of the game.

Derek seized a cocktail peanut from the bowl in front of it and held it up for Addison's inspection with a smirk. "Wanna play?"

Addison crossed her arms. "I don't know you well enough to let you do _anything_ to my breasts."

Addison turned back to her drink. A few minutes later, she felt a small pelt as a peanut landed between her breasts. Her eyes flashed as she glared at Derek, who couldn't hide the guilty grin on his face. Addison pulled her hand back and gave him a slap on the wrist – hard enough for it to sting a bit, but not hard enough to actually hurt him. Derek just chuckled.

"I'm sorry… I couldn't resist." Derek downed the rest of his beer. "You have such a nice… Court."

"Clearly, you've spent too much time with Mark." Addison said, annoyed. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes.

"So, uh… Pool?" Derek suggested, trying to break the ice.

"I'll kick your ass." Addison warned.

Derek gave her a smile, stood up, and offered his hand. "I'll take my chances."

Addison looked at his hand warily, but took it and allowed him to lead her over to the pool table.

They hadn't been playing long (with Derek losing) when Mark appeared at the pool table, looking frantic. Derek looked at his friend oddly. "Hey, man… What happened to the girl you were talking to?"

"She's jailbait." Mark explained. "We have to get out of here."

The three friends hurried out of the bar. Though Addison was tall, she found it hard to keep up with Mark and Derek's long strides. A combination of her speed, the alcohol, her three-inch stilettos, and a crack in the sidewalk led to her stumbling and falling against Mark. He caught her by the arm and kept her from hitting the concrete.

"Owww! Damn it!" Addison wailed, clutching her left ankle. "That hurts…"

"Well, if you wouldn't always wear those stupid high heels, Addie…" Mark sighed and swept Addison into his arms. "Come on. We'll take you back to my place and check it out."

* * *

They finally reached Mark's apartment, a sleek one-bedroom that Mark's parents had shelled out quite a chunk of money. The divorced surgeons had felt guilty for never spending enough time with their only child, so they frequently tried to buy his affection – Mark hated it, but he was used to it.

Once they were inside, Derek set Addison gently on the couch; he had been carrying her since Mark realized after seven blocks that maybe she wasn't as lightweight as he thought when he was half drunk.

"Looks like a sprain." Derek said after examining her ankle. He pressed on it lightly. "Does that hurt?"

"Um, yes." Addison said, biting her lip in a grimace.

"Rest, ice, compress, elevate." Mark recited from his Red Cross training. He clasped his hands together. "Let's do it."

The pair took off for the kitchen. Derek began looking in the freezer for ice, while Mark took off for the bathroom to look for painkillers.

"You have no ice." Derek announced to Mark.

"I don't? Really?" Mark returned from the bathroom carrying a bottle of Advil. He took a look for himself. "Huh. No, I don't…"

"What about frozen food? Peas or something?" Addison called, then realized it was a stupid question – Mark rarely ate anything at his apartment unless he brought it home in a fast food bag or a Chinese takeout box.

"Mmm, nope." Mark replied.

"Hey, what about that?" Derek pointed inside the freezer.

"That could work." Mark decided. He walked back into the living room, carrying a bottle of liquor by its neck. Derek followed behind him with the Advil and a glass of water.

Addison recognized the bottle of Absolut Peppar. It was a gift from a friend of Mark's – and it was absolutely disgusting. Still, Mark refused to throw it away (after all, it _was_ alcohol, and he was in college), continually trying to find mixers to make it "taste okay." It never did, and it was about the only item in his freezer.

"Give me your bra." Mark demanded.

Addison snorted. "You seriously think you're touching my bra?"

"Hey. Trust me." Mark gave her a lopsided grin. "I'm a doctor." A pause. "Well, almost."

Addison crossed her arms. "So am I."

Mark sighed. "Look, I have a plan. Just give me the bra, okay?"

Addison grumbled, but she was in pain – she had no choice but to trust her best friend. She reached around and unhooked her bra. Mark and Derek exchanged pleased expressions. She shrugged it off of her shoulders and pulled it out from under her shirt. She flung the lingerie at Mark, and he caught it with a smile. Addison glared at him, crossing her arms protectively over her breasts – it felt a little weird that they were "free" with the two guys standing there with her, knowing it.

"Black lace… Very nice. I would have pegged you for something more… Demure." Mark commented, examining the bra. His fingers grasped the tag and he eyed it, looking for the size. Derek peered over his shoulder and smiled his approval.

"Mark!" Addison shrieked. "Derek! Quit that!"

"What?" Mark shrugged. "I just wanted to see if my estimations were correct. Derek, hold the bottle against her foot."

Derek complied, and Addison had to laugh while she watched Mark wrap the bra around her foot to secure the cold bottle to it. Derek put a pillow down on Mark's coffee table, and Mark placed her foot on it.

"And there you are." Mark said.

"Thank you, Dr. MacGyver." Addison managed, still giggling.

"No problem… Now, the matter of payment." Mark tapped his cheek lightly with his fingertip. "It'll cost ya a kiss."

Addison rolled her eyes, but pressed her lips against Mark's cheek in a light kiss.

"Hey." Derek was indignant. "What about me? I assisted!"

"Thank you, Nurse MacGyver." Addison said, and repeated the kiss on the cheek for Derek.

Both men sunk down into the couch beside her, one on each side. Mark flipped on the TV to ESPN, where a Yankees game from earlier in the day was being recounted.

"Awesome!" Derek said, watching one of the players hit a homerun. The two men exchanged high-fives over Addison's head, as though they had something to do with the play.

Addison looked from Mark to Derek to her foot and shook her head. "This is going to be an interesting summer…"

* * *

_Yes, it is…_

_Next: Addison starts her matchmaking games on Derek._


	3. Chapter 3

_So, I don't know what I thought of the finale. I hope that Addison at least gets to say goodbye before going to the spin-off in the fall… We'll see._

_I had some issues writing this chapter for some reason. It really took me longer than it should have. Hopefully, it will be okay. :)_

* * *

Two weeks after arriving in town, Derek walked into a Starbucks, looking for Mark and Addison. The trio had been practically inseparable since his return, and they had asked him to meet them there that day. Apparently, it was a Sunday tradition for them. Derek had quickly realized that he wasn't sure _which_ Starbucks they meant – leaving him to wander Manhattan.

The fifth Starbucks he visited was the charm. He spotted the redhead at the coffee bar, wearing a pair of reading glasses and holding a copy of _Sense and Sensibility._ Her bright blue eyes intently scanned the pages, and she was slightly startled when Derek took the seat next to her.

"Hey." Addison said, putting a hand over her heart. "You scared the hell out of me."

"Sorry about that." Derek offered an apologetic smile. "Where's Mark?"

"Late. He's always late." Addison said needlessly, since Derek knew how his best friend of 19 years was. "I don't know why I even bother to be on time anymore. I always bring something to read when I'm meeting him."

"He's always been that way, and always will be."

"He'll probably be along in the next… Oh… 5 minutes, or 5 hours. Whatever he feels like today." Addison stuck a bookmark into her book and tossed it into her tote bag. She picked up her coffee and took a sip.

"So, maybe you'd like to take this opportunity to tell me why you rejected a marriage proposal?" Derek suggested. Ever since Mark had told him about it, he had been intrigued – he decided to seize the opportunity to ask about it while they were alone.

Addison nearly choked on her latte. "You're forward. Aren't you?"

Derek shrugged. "I'm just wondering what there is to hide."

Addison sighed. "Look, in high school, I was a band geek."

"What'd you play?"

"The piccolo."

"Me too!" Derek grinned.

Addison eyed him. "No, you didn't."

Derek shrugged. "Okay, I didn't. But it sounds like fun."

"If you don't mind an instrument that is too high pitched for anyone but dogs to hear."

"What does this have to do with Skippy?" Derek asked, a bit confused as to how the piccolo was connected to Addison's ex-boyfriend.

Addison sighed. "Everything. I'm not a band geek anymore. I changed a lot in college, like everyone does. Skippy was in love with the high school-Addison. He never really bothered to get to know the college-Addison. When he asked me to marry him, I freaked out because I never saw it coming. I couldn't marry him when he didn't really know me, you know?

Addison suddenly realized that she was babbling. "I don't know why I'm telling you all of this. I'm sorry."

"Hey, I'm easy to talk to, what can I say?" Derek reached out and gently touched her hand, forcing her to look up at him. "Why didn't you just tell Mark and Hall all of that? I mean, you have reasons that anyone could understand. You did the right thing."

"Because I hurt him." Addison stared down again and swirled a finger absently through the foam in her latte. "I hate talking about how I hurt him, because I should have never let it get to that point. I probably should have broken up with him after freshman year."

"You can't beat yourself up about it though." Derek said gently. It sounded to him as though she was still doing that, months later.

Addison's head suddenly snapped up. "Have you ever stayed in a relationship just out of habit? Just because you can't imagine yourself not being with that person, whether you're still in love or not?"

"No…" Derek replied honestly. "I haven't had many serious relationships. My longest one was back in California, for 6 months, but that ended a year ago."

Addison sighed and took a drink of her coffee. "Well, I felt like an idiot, because he really was the most perfect guy… Evan – that's his real name; I don't know where in the hell Skippy came from – would have done anything for me. I gave that up. Am I insane?"

"No. You'd be insane if you would have stayed with someone you weren't in love with… And if he didn't try to get to know the real you, he wasn't the perfect guy." Derek pointed out.

"Maybe you're right…" Addison admitted.

"Of course I am." Derek grinned. "Now… Who are you?"

"You want to know about me?" Addison asked suspiciously.

"I do." Derek leaned forward with interest. "So shoot. Tell me all about yourself."

"All right…" Addison took a deep breath. I've spent my whole life in NYC. I went to private school. I have two older sisters, but they're married, and they've moved down the eastern seaboard. I thought about being a vet before deciding to become a doctor… People have to smell better than animals. I'm thinking of going into obstetrics and gynecology; no jokes about smells and no calling it 'squishy and pink' like Mark does. He always makes fun of me. He still has a bruise on his arm from the last time that he did."

"No squishy and pink." Derek noted. "May result in physical pain. Got it. Don't worry, Addison Montgomery, I will not say a _word_ about anything being squishy and pink… Because you are one woman that I am _afraid _to piss off."

"As you should be."

* * *

When Mark finally arrived ten minutes later, the scene had changed. He saw Derek chatting with a tall, beautiful blonde with an amazing body, and Addison stealing glances at them from her seat at the coffee bar. To Mark's surprise, Derek – who previously had "no game" – looked like he was comfortable talking to the woman.

"Hey." Mark said, sliding onto the stool next to Addison and greeting her with a hug. "Who's the girl?"

"Just someone I introduced Derek to." Addison said nonchalantly. "She's a friend of mine who lives down the hall from me… Oh, did I mention that she's a Rockette?"

"A Rockette!" Mark whined. "You know I love dancers… Why didn't you introduce _me_ to her?"

Addison shrugged innocently. "Hey, I offered…"

"You did not!" Mark argued.

"That's _Laura._ Remember? The last day of finals? I told you on the quad that I wanted to hook you up with my friend, Laura, and you launched into complaining about Juanita."

"Damn it…" Mark moaned. "I'm such an idiot."

"Yes… Yes, you are."

"I don't feel like watching my best friend flirt with one of the hottest girls I've ever seen." Mark said with a frown. As hard as he tried not to be jealous, he couldn't believe that _Derek_ had gotten a girl like _that._ "What do you say we head back to my place and hang out?"

"Sounds like a plan. We should let them get acquainted." Addison agreed.

* * *

"Move the hell out of the way, you damn mushroom headed creature! God, this is why I hate mushrooms!" Addison complained, maneuvering her character around Toad, then Mark's character. "Ha!"

Addison leaned back against Mark's leather couch in silent satisfaction as Princess Toadstool rounded out the race ahead of Toad and Koopa Troopa. She began to mimic Princess Toadstool's victory hand waving action while Mark scowled and threw his controller down in frustration.

"Bitch." Mark muttered. Addison wasn't offended.

"That's my name! Don't wear it out!" Addison replied proudly. "Do you want to lose again?"

"Nope." Mark childishly turned off the system and yanked the cartridge out of the top. "Let's play something else."

Mark had a vast selection of Super Nintendo Games. He studied the group of cartridges, neatly lined up in his entertainment center, and finally selected one with a grin.

"Oh, Super Punch-Out?" Addison moaned. "That's not fair!"

It was the only game that she couldn't beat him at.

Mark put the cartridge into the system and turned it on. He frowned when the game didn't work, and pulled the cartridge back out to blow on it, moving it back and forth like a harmonica before putting it back in again. It still didn't work.

"Oh, darn… I guess we can't play." Addison snapped her fingers in mock disappointment.

Mark frowned at her. "You probably sabotaged it."

Addison crossed her arms. "I did no such thing."

Mark sighed and removed the cartridge. "I guess I'll have to get the rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip…"

"This is what you get for being too chicken to race me in Mario Kart again." Addison said, wagging her finger at Mark.

The door to Mark's apartment suddenly opened rather swiftly, and Derek entered, looking somewhat annoyed.

"Oh, Addison…" Derek said sweetly. "I need to talk to you."

"I know, I know… You want to thank me for setting you up with Laura." Addison stated proudly. "No need."

"Exactly." Derek said, crossing his arms and standing over her.

Addison raised an eyebrow at his hostile stance. "What? What happened?"

"Laura's a nice girl. Really, she is. And she's beautiful. And leggy." Derek said.

"So, what exactly is the problem?" Addison asked, confused. "Those all sound like good things."

"She likes people who are nice, beautiful, and leggy." Derek filled in.

Mark burst out laughing in realization. Derek's words still hadn't fully clicked with Addison, whose face was contorted with confusion. "Huh?"

"She's a lesbian!" Derek exploded. "With a crush on _you,_ Addison! She spent the whole time asking me about you, and asking if I thought there was any chance you would swing her way!"

Addison's shoulders began to shake before a burst of laughter spouted from her lips. "Oh my God… I'm sorry, Derek. I had no idea."

"Uh-huh."

"Really, I didn't!" Addison promised.

"I'm going to meet my mother for lunch. Good luck with the cupid from hell there, Mark. Later." Derek opened the door to Mark's apartment, stepped out of it, and closed it a bit too hard.

"Great going, Addie." Mark said sarcastically.

"Oh well, so she's a lesbian. It's okay. I have someone else in mind for him." Addison said with a twinkle in her eye.

Mark crossed his arms. "Why don't you leave me and Derek alone and find yourself a man?"

"No thanks. Men aren't for me."

Mark smirked. "I'm sure that Laura would be happy to hear that… And I wouldn't mind _watching_ that."

Addison hurled a throw pillow at Mark, hitting him squarely in the chest. "That's not what I meant. I'm horrible at relationships, but I like to see my friends happy."

"I don't know how you call yourself horrible at relationships when your last one lasted years." Mark pointed out. "And you certainly seem to read enough romantic sappy literature…"

Mark eyed the tote bag that Addison had abandoned just inside the door of his apartment. "In fact, I'll bet you ten bucks right now that your bag is full of Austen and Brontë novels." 

"Anyway." Addison waved her hand dismissively at Mark's comment (because he was completely right). "I'll set him up with a girl who I _know_ is straight."

"You?" Mark's lips twitched up into a smile.

"Um, no. Definitely not. I was thinking of Hallie."

"Hal?" Mark raised an eyebrow. "You really think he'd go for her? I'm not sure she's his type."

"She's not a bumpkin, Mark." Addison informed him. "Not since I got my hands on her. But she's dating this musician guy who is really kind of… Gross. I think she needs to try to date a real, grown-up man."

Mark shook his head slowly. "You're _really_ going to make him hate you, Ads."

Addison shrugged and gave Mark a smile. "I'll take my chances."

* * *

_Next: Addison forces Derek and Hallie to go out on a date… And they decide to get a little revenge on her._


	4. Chapter 4

_I'm really excited, because I actually have a plot scheme and an ending in mind for this story now! YAY! It has a point now:) Enjoy the lighthearted fun now, kids, because it's going to get angsty in a few chapters…_

_Here's a short one, but necessary for transition._

_

* * *

_

"Wear this with the black pants you bought last week."

Addison tossed Hallie one of her own shirts, a purple satin top that she thought would go well with Hallie's eyes. Because Hallie and Addison were built quite differently (Hallie being much shorter and curvier), they couldn't share most of their clothing – pants and skirts were out of the question, but shirts and shoes were usually fine. Hallie's dark eyes scanned the label of the garment and grew wide.

"Prada?" Hallie squeaked, holding the item out in front of her between two fingertips – as though it might be infected with the Plague. "I can't wear Prada!"

"Sure you can." Addison urged her, pushing the shirt back against her chest. "It'll look great on you."

"You… You are the kind of girl who wears Prada." Hallie insisted. "Me? Not so much."

"Why not?"

"Besides the fact that I can't afford it, you mean?" Hallie asked, still looking warily at the top in her hands. She had never understood designer clothing. She saw nothing that made that shirt any more special than anything she could buy at The Gap (and admittedly, it had taken Addison a year to get her to shop _there)._

"I don't recall saying that I was charging you rent for it."

"You know what I mean, Addie."

"Just trust me. You can pull it off." Addison promised, gently kicking a pair of heels over to her friend as though they hadn't cost $500. "These look great with it. I'll get you a necklace and some earrings, too."

"Are you trying to vicariously date Derek with your clothes?"

"Of course not. I just want to help you look nice for your date."

"No ulterior motives?"

"None."

It was a lie. Addison's ulterior motive was that she had no desire to do Mark's laundry for a month – especially since he liked to go to the gym five days a week.

_It's never going to happen between those two. They have nothing in common._

Yes they do, Addison had insisted.

_Like what?_

She couldn't think of anything.

_If you're so sure of yourself… Care to make it interesting?_

_Mark_ had challenged _her_. She blamed Mark for her lie to Hallie. It just _had _to work out between them, or she'd be stuck at the local Laundromat with Mark's sweaty socks. Worse, she'd lose any credibility she ever had for making matches.

"I really hate blind dates, you know…" Hallie grumbled.

"So does Derek! See, you have something in common already!"

"Is he at least cute?" Hallie asked, slipping her feet into the high heels. She winced as the points pinched her toes.

Addison thought about Derek's long dark hair, his pale blue eyes, the chiseled boyish good looks, and the slight scruffiness that came from his unwillingness to shave. "Yes. He's hot."

"Hot like actually hot, or hot like you claimed Matthew Snickle was?"

"Actually hot."

Hallie heaved a sigh as she slid Addison's diamond hoop earrings into her ears. "Fine. Fine. But if you're lying…"

"I'm not." Addison promised.

"We'll see about that."

* * *

Mark, as part of his attempt to win his bet with Addison, had not done much to talk Hallie up to Derek – in fact, he'd tried to highlight some of her faults rather than her strong characteristics. Derek was pleasantly surprised when he saw the pretty twenty-one year old at the pizza restaurant she had selected for dinner, with her makeup perfectly done and her long chestnut hair hanging down over her shoulders in soft curls. He found her charming – especially her accent, and with all the reading she had completed as part of her major, she was very intelligent.

"I'm sorry she forced you to go out on this date with me." Hallie said halfway through the meal, twisting her napkin. "I'm sure that there are other girls that you'd rather go out with… I'm probably boring you to de—"

"Are you kidding?" Derek interrupted. "You look beautiful, and you're lots of fun to be with. I'm proud to be out on a date with you."

"I have to be honest with ya." Hallie drawled. "This? Ain't me. This is me in Addison's clothes. And her makeup. And her jewelry. I feel like I'm playing dress up."

"What would you like to be wearing?" Derek asked, amused.

"Jeans." Hallie answered immediately. "And a t-shirt."

"I don't blame you. Why did you let her do this, then?" Derek asked. "Why do you let her make you her Barbie doll?"

Hallie shrugged. "She's my best friend. You let best friends get away with things that you don't let other people get away with."

Derek thought of all of the things that he had let Mark get away with over the course of their friendship, and nodded slightly. "That's true."

"But since you mentioned it…" Hallie set her slice of pizza down and leaned forward in her chair eagerly. "What do you say we get her back for this blind date crap that she pulled on us?"

Derek arched a brow. "How do you suggest that we do that?

"We'll play matchmaker for _her._ We'll hook _her_ up with someone. Get her back at her own game."

"Whom did you have in mind?" Derek asked suspiciously.

Hallie just grinned.

* * *

_Well, Hallie obviously has one of two people in mind, but which one is it?_

_Next chapter should be up by tomorrow. :)_


	5. Chapter 5

_Since my fiancé invited someone that I don't particularly like over to hang out, I decided to write some more. :)_

* * *

_I have a date for you, Mark… She's this really hot girl. You'll love her._

Mark was skeptical. Derek hadn't been back in New York for long. How did he even _know_ anyone to set Mark up with? And what kind of first date took place in a _bar_, anyway?

As Mark approached the bar, he saw someone he recognized. Someone with very familiar, telltale flame-colored hair. A smile crossed his lips, and he decided to have some fun with his best friend. He walked up behind Addison, placed a hand on her waist, and put his head near hers.

"Hey, baby. Are you tired? Because you've been running through my head all day." Mark whispered huskily into her ear, trying to disguise his voice.

Addison whirled around on the barstool, eyes flashing, prepared to lay him out for the lame pickup line – and for touching her. Her eyes widened in surprised a little bit when she realized that it was her best friend. "Mark?"

"Yep." Mark slid onto the barstool beside her. "That's me. What are you doing here?"

"Hallie sort of, um… Set me up on a date." Mark could tell that she was embarrassed. "I'm meeting him here. He's supposed to be wearing a white shirt."

"Really? Derek has a date for me, too." Mark snuck a glance down at his white button-down shirt.

_They wouldn't have… Would they?_

"Really." Addison arched a brow.

"She's supposed to be wearing a blue…" Mark stopped suddenly. He looked at Addison's shirt, and burst into laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"We got duped." Mark said with another little laugh.

"What do you mean?" Addison asked, not clueing into the situation.

Mark pinched a piece of her shirt between his fingertips. "Blue." He released her clothing and did the same thing to his own shirt sleeve. "White."

"Oh my God." Addison set her jaw as Mark continued to chuckle at their situation. "You're laughing?"

"You're not?"

"Doesn't this make you angry at all?"

"Well, _you_ got what was coming to you." Mark said with a smirk. "I guess_ I_ was an involuntary accomplice, but that's cool with me."

Addison crossed her arms. "You're supposed to be my best friend. You're supposed to be nice to me."

Mark shrugged. "Doesn't mean I can't find it funny."

Addison let out a sigh and turned away from Mark. He bit his lip to keep from chuckling at her, then reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, since we're here, I'll buy you a drink to make up for laughing at you."

"No, you will buy me _several_ drinks that contain vodka to make up for laughing at me."

"Deal."

* * *

"When are you finally gonna get a guy, Addie?" Mark asked after they'd had a few drinks.

"Never." Addison said defiantly.

"You're crazy." Mark shook his head. "You could have any man in the world."

"I don't need a man. They're trouble. I'm about to start med school, and the last thing I need is trouble."

"Well, if we're not married by the time we're 30… Can I marry you?" Mark said with a smile. He was clearly buzzed.

"You'd never be faithful to one woman."

"I would if she was the right one."

Addison snorted. "What the hell would you want with me, Sloan?"

Mark smirked. "I've always heard redheads are hot in the sack."

"You heard right." Addison downed her martini. "You've never had a redhead?"

"Nope."

"That surprises me, considering the collection you've had." Addison bantered lightly.

They were quiet for a few minutes before Mark spoke up again. "You worried?"

Addison was confused. "About what?"

"Med school."

"More excited that worried." Addison said, accepting her next martini from the bartender. "It'll be hard, but what's not?"

"Why do you want to be a doctor?"

"What, you want the stereotypical 'help people' answer?"

"If that's your answer, yeah."

"I think it's amazing, that people would trust you with their lives… And being able to save their lives? Could there be a better feeling than that?"

"Probably not… Pretty powerful." Mark said softly. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing it more for money and power, or more because I wanna help people."

He was always willing to open up to people – especially Addison – when he'd been drinking.

Addison shrugged. "You'll be a good doctor."

"You don't think my bedside manner would suck?"

"Maybe a little. But you can work on it. You're not a bad guy."

"That means a lot to me."

Addison was amused. "It means a lot to you that I said you're not a bad guy?"

"Yeah… It does."

* * *

"Let's dance!" Addison said cheerfully, several empty martini glasses later. She ate the olive from her last glass and dropped the empty toothpick back into it.

"I don't dance." Mark said flatly. He had several drained rum and cokes sitting in front of him – he wasn't looking forward to paying their bar tab.

"I'll let you touch my ass." Addison offered, too drunk to care by that point. She just wanted to dance.

Mark brightened. "Okay, you're on."

Mark allowed Addison to lead him out on the dance floor. His hands rested on her waist at first, but he couldn't help but notice that she was grinding her hips against him. Following her cues, he went ahead and ran his hands down over her butt (hell, she'd given him permission).

"Geez, Addie. Is Dirty Dancing one of your favorite movies or something?" Mark laughed.

"Every girl loves that movie."

Mark felt a jolt go through his body as her lips unexpectedly landed on his. He'd never kissed her before – he'd always imagined she'd taste like something wild, maybe cinnamon or peppermint – not sweet, like a strawberry. Her tongue ran around his lips, asking permission to enter. He parted his lips more than willingly and allowed her tongue to gently caress his. His eyes closed and one hand found its way into her red locks, tugging gently, while the other rested on the small of her back, pulling her against him as tightly as they could. They remained that way on the dance floor for a few minutes before finally breaking apart for air.

"That was…" Addison breathed.

"Amazing." Mark finished, pulling her back in for another kiss.

* * *

Pain coursed through Addison's head as she stirred awake the next morning. She quickly slammed her eyes shut in pain, groaned, and swore to herself (for the 15th time in her life, at least) that she would never drink that much alcohol again. She slowly opened her eyes again, and they fell on the sheets. Flannel sheets. Addison Montgomery did _not_ own flannel sheets.

Realization slowly crept over her when she saw the hairy arm (that could only belong to a male) slung across her bare torso. Her heart pounded quickly and she snapped her head back to see Mark sound asleep behind her. Slowly, she lifted the sheet up and peeked underneath. They were both naked. Her jaw dropped as the sheet fell from her fingers. The events of the night before came rushing back into her aching head, and she groaned softly.

"Oh my God." Addison whispered. "What have I done?!"

* * *

_They write themselves. What can I say? They wanted to have sex. Who am I to stop them?_

_I'm already working on the next chapter. . . :)_


	6. Chapter 6

Addison had heard Hallie talk about "the walk of shame," but she had never actually done one herself until that morning. After slipping out of Mark's bed unnoticed, she'd hoped to blend into the New York City streets while walking the five blocks to her apartment… But that didn't seem to be possible. The knowing glances at her smeared black eyeliner and bed hair quickly made her lower her eyes to the concrete. Addison had never been so happy to see her apartment building.

_It's shaping up to be a day full of surprises,_ Addison thought, after opening the door to her apartment and viewing the sight in her living room.

If she ever spoke to Mark again (which was looking dubious by that point), the first thing she would say was that he needed to pick up her laundry.

Hallie, topless except for her pink bra, was straddling Derek on the couch. They were making out like high school students. After noticing Addison, they jumped apart quickly and flushed deep pink.

"Uhh, don't mind me." Addison told them, slipping into her bedroom and closing the door softly behind her.

"She's wearing the same clothes as last night." Hallie hissed to Derek.

"You don't think they…"

"I'm going to find out." Hallie scrambled to find her t-shirt. "She looked a bit shaken up."

"I'll just, uh…" Derek looked around helplessly.

"Watch some TV or something," Hallie smiled. "I'm not done with you yet."

Hallie pulled her Columbia shirt back over her head and walked over to Addison's door. She entered without knocking, something she had a bad habit of, but Addison didn't usually mind. Addison was sprawled out across her bed sideways, clutching her head between her hands.

"Nice trick you played on us last night." Addison mumbled.

"I'm sorry…" Hallie said guiltily, sitting gingerly on the side of the bed. "We were just having some fun."

"I slept with him, Hal. We got drunk and had sex. I blame you."

"Hey, I wasn't pouring vodka down your throat." Hallie protested. "I wasn't taking your clothes off, I wasn't spreading your le—"

"Okay, okay." Addison held her hand up, begging Hallie to stop. "I have a horrible hangover."

"I'll get you some aspirin." Hallie offered.

"In a minute…" Addison sighed. "Just… Talk to me."

"So…" Hallie traced one of the flowers on Addison's bedspread with her fingertip. "How was he?"

Addison glared at her. "Hal…"

"Sorry, I had to ask."

Addison sighed. "I can barely remember it, except that I know it was the best sex of my life. How pathetic is that?"

"Pretty pathetic." Hallie agreed. "What'd he say about it?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Mark had nothing to say? I find _that_ hard to believe."

"Well… That's probably because I snuck out of his apartment before he woke up."

"Addie…" Hallie admonished.

"He's a manwhore, Hallie! He's probably carving the notch into his headboard as we speak."

"I've said it before." Hallie began patiently, "I'll say it again. Mark Sloan has a soft spot for you. _You_ are not a notch."

"_Everyone's_ a notch to him. I don't care who it is. Congratulations to him; he finally bagged a redhead. I'll probably start a whole new category of notches!"

"If you would just wake up and see the way he looks at you, maybe you'd see that he cares about you. But you're too damn stubborn!" Hallie exclaimed.

"Just shut up about how I should be with Mark! I just slept with my best friend! Things will never be the same between us again."

"It's you and Mark. I've never seen a guy and a girl who are so close. You'll be able to laugh about this and overcome it. Who knows? Maybe things will be better" Hallie said.

"How could I have been so stupid?" Addison moaned, clutching a pillow to her chest. "Sex with your best friend is a bad idea."

"Not always…"

"I don't know, Hal… I really don't."

The phone on Addison's nightstand rang. Hallie looked at Addison expectantly and she shook her head. With a sigh, Hallie picked up the phone.

"Hello? Um… Hold on." Hallie covered the receiver with her hand. "It's Mark."

"I'm not awake." Addison announced, too loudly.

"She's uh, sleeping, Mark." Hallie said into the phone.

"I heard her." Mark said quietly to Hallie.

Hallie cradled the cordless phone between her ear and her shoulder and walked out into the living room, where Derek was watching Saturday morning cartoons Hallie shook her head at Derek, then went back to the phone."Look Mark, she's freaked out."

"I didn't take advantage of her, Hallie." Mark said.

"I know you didn't, but she's upset about what this is going to mean for your friendship. Just give her time. Okay?"

After a few more minutes of Hallie's reassurance, Mark finally hung up the phone. Hallie sighed and sunk down into the couch beside Derek.

"They had sex." Hallie announced.

"I gathered that much."

"She won't talk to him. She's upset. He's upset. I think maybe you should…"

Derek reached for his sneakers. "I'm on it… Damn it, what is this? A movie and we're the sidekicks who have to put our friends back together?"

Hallie giggled and kissed his nose. "Appears that way. I think it's called 'When Mark Met Addison.'"

Derek dipped her back down onto the couch. "I personally think we should be the leads…"

Hallie reluctantly pushed Derek away. "They need us. And the leads always get tortured too much, anyway."

Derek sighed and stood up. He was not looking forward to talking to Mark. "Right."

He walked over to Addison's open door and knocked lightly. Her head was covered by a pillow and she mumbled a reply that sounded affirmative to him, so he walked into the room. He sighed, sat down beside her, and gently rubbed her back. Hallie appeared a few moments later and hung back, watching from the doorway.

"Is there anything that you want me to say to him?" Derek asked gently.

Addison rolled her head to the side, allowing Derek to see the bright redness of her face and the tears on her cheeks. He bit his lip at the sight, and reached out to softly swipe a strand of her hair out of her face.

"I don't know." Addison replied hoarsely.

Derek played with the red lock in his hand. "Do you want to be with him?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to be his friend?"

"Of course..."

"Can I tell him that part?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe…" Derek slipped his arm around Addison helped her into a sitting position. "You should get a shower."

Hallie entered the room, frowning at her best friend's condition, and took Addison's arm. She guided her off the bed and walked slowly with her toward the bathroom. "Come on. I already started running a bath for you. I even used Mr. Bubble! That always makes you feel better."

"I can't think of anything that will make me feel better right now."

* * *

Mark opened the door for Derek about twenty minutes later, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. His hair was in disarray and he was wearing glasses instead of his usual contact lenses. When he peered beyond the frames, Derek was shocked to see that Mark's eyes were red. Had he actually been crying? Derek couldn't recall ever having seen his best friend cry; not in 19 years of friendship.

Mark stepped aside to let Derek in, and went back over to the couch. Derek closed the door behind him and took a seat next to him on the couch. He waited in silence for Mark to speak first.

"How did you know?" Mark finally asked.

"I was there, with Hallie, when she came home."

Mark's face registered surprise upon hearing that Derek had been with Hallie, but he pushed it out of his mind. "How is she?"

"She's… Well. She's in rough shape right now, but I think she'll be okay."

"I wish…" Mark said quietly, "That it had been any other girl in the world. I never wanted to hurt Addie."

"Of course you didn't."

"Is my friendship completely screwed?"

"No. She said she still wants to be your friend."

Mark let out a sigh of relief, leaned back against the couch cushions, and covered his face with his hands. "Well, thank God for that."

"I must say that I'm surprised you care this much…"

"She's special, Derek. She's different."

"Are you in love with her?"

"I don't know. I didn't think I'd ever feel that way about _anyone. _I just know that I care about her, and I don't want our friendship to be ruined."

Derek sighed and clapped his hand on Mark's shoulder. "You'll just have to… Give her time. Time will help her move past it. I know it will."

* * *

"Time," as Addison defined it, apparently had no clearly known and defined ending. After four weeks of their friends not speaking to each other, Derek and Hallie finally gave up on dropping little comments to them about how they should try to reconcile. Their excuses gave Derek and Hallie headaches.

_I tried to call her the morning after it happened, and she didn't want to talk to me. I already made the first move. The ball's in her court now._

_I was just a conquest for him. He has no use for me anymore._

_I didn't mean to hurt her, but now she hates me._

_He's a manwhore. Why would he care if he hurt me?_

Hallie noticed the change in Addison. She moped around the apartment, reading or watching TV since she had no summer job (she'd wisely taken the summer off to rest for med school). Hallie had tried everything that she could think of to try to drag Addison out of her depression – movies, the theatre, shopping – but Addison was only temporarily distracted each time.

One afternoon, while Hallie was getting ready to work at her waitressing job, Addison burst through her bedroom door.

"Do you have a calendar, Hal?" Addison asked. Her voice was somewhat frantic and it surprised Hallie.

"Um, yeah, it's…" Hallie pointed.

Addison yanked the calendar off the wall and began analyzing it with the intensity that she might a treasure map. Hallie waited for an explanation for a few moments. She never got one, so she finally cleared her throat.

"What in the _hell_ are you doing, Addie?!"


	7. Chapter 7

"Shit… Shit, shit, shit." Addison mumbled under her breath, tracing her finger across several days on the calendar.

"Care to fill me in, Addison?" Hallie asked, her hands on her hips.

"I'm late, Hallie." Addison said quietly as she re-counted days on the calendar.

"For what?" Hallie demanded, not catching onto the weight of Addison's words.

"I'm _late._" Addison repeated with more emphasis, not looking up from the calendar.

"That thing? That I'm supposed to get every month? It's not here yet. It was supposed to be here over a week ago, and it's not here yet."

"Shit." Hallie whispered.

"That's what I'm saying!"

"Didn't you use a condom?"

"I… I don't remember." Addison confessed.

Hallie shook her head. "You really need to get on the Pill."

"That's not helpful right now! Now is not the time!" Addison threw up her hands. "I wasn't sleeping with anyone. I wasn't planning to… Just… Grrr, just don't talk to me about what I should have done! It's obviously too late… Literally!"

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry." Hallie held up her hands in surrender. "Why don't you call Mark and ask him if you used a condom?"

"Oh, sure." Addison said sarcastically at Hallie's ploy to get her to talk to Mark. "Because that would work. Because he wouldn't question why I want to know."

"You should tell him, Addie…"

"I'm not telling him anything until there's something to tell." Addison stated. "There isn't much more nerve wracking to a guy than a pregnancy scare."

"Okay…" Hallie paced her room. "Let's be rational about this. You've been really stressed out lately over the way that you left things with Mark. You could have made yourself late that way."

"That's true!" Addison nodded with relief.

"So, you need to take a test, and then you can put your mind at ease."

"I can't do it. I can't buy a pregnancy test. What if I run into my parents? Or someone else I know?" Addison raked a hand through her hair nervously.

"Damn it, Addison!" Hallie exclaimed in frustration. "Don't be ridiculous. If you're worried about someone recognizing you, _I'll_ go buy the thing. I don't give a damn what people think of me."

"Okay." Addison breathed a sigh of relief. "I know you think I'm being silly…"

"Yes, I do." Hallie agreed.

"But I appreciate it. I'll go with you, and we can get it after you get off work."

"No." Hallie reached for the phone on her desk. "We'll get it now. I'll take the day off."

"No, Hallie, you really shouldn't do that."

"Please. You know I don't care about my job. This is far more important than any job." Hallie dialed the phone with one hand, and put her free one over Addison's. "Let me be your friend, Addie."

* * *

"Have you ever taken one?"

"Yeah." Hallie responded as she pushed open the door of their local pharmacy. "Once. A couple of years ago. Negative, thank God. Worst ten minutes of my life."

"Glad to know that's what I have to look forward to…" Addison quipped.

"I'll go get it. Just hang out here."

Addison busied herself by pretending to look at some bottles of shampoo until Hallie returned with her basket full of bags and bags of M&Ms.

"What's with the M&Ms?" Addison asked, confused.

"Well, they're there to make the pregnancy test less obvious, and we might want something to munch on while we wait."

"All right… Well, let's get out of here."

Addison hung by the door and let Hallie pay for her purchases. To her horror, a very familiar person entered the pharmacy.

"Hey, Addison!" Derek greeted her with a gentle hug.

"Hey, uh, Derek… What are you doing here?" Addison asked, trying to block Derek's view of Hallie's purchases.

"The pollen is killing me. I'm going to pick up something for it." Derek looked over Addison's shoulder and noticed his girlfriend. "Hey, I should go say hi to Hallie. I'll be right back."

"Wait, um…" Addison caught Derek's arm to keep him from moving. "You should wait until she's done checking out. She hates being interrupted while she's paying."

"Wait a minute, what was that?!" Derek asked, his voice filled with alarm as he saw pregnancy test went across the scanner.

"That was, um…." Addison stalled while Hallie hurriedly paid the bill and took the bag from the cashier.

Hallie spun around and saw the shock on Derek's face and the terror on Addison's. _Shit. He must have seen the pregnancy test… And he probably thinks it's mine!_

"Hi baby!" Hallie said brightly. Her best course of action at that point was to act like nothing was out of place. "What a small world!"

"Why did you just buy a pregnancy test?!" Derek asked frantically, looking directly into Hallie's face.

Addison groaned softly. They were screwed. Hallie was the worst liar that she knew. It was hard to tell what kind of excuse she would come up with for Derek – but nothing could have prepared Addison for the ridiculousness that came out of Hallie's mouth.

"You know our cat, Cookie? Well, she's been getting awfully chubby lately, and we think that she may be having a litter! Wouldn't that be great? We got this for her to see if she's expecting."

Addison closed her eyes and shook her head back and forth a little.

"Really." Derek crossed his arms. "That's interesting, since Cookie has never been outside, and there are no male cats in your apartment. How could she have gotten pregnant?"

Hallie gasped. "Hey, you're right! Damn, you're so smart. We should have just asked you and saved ourselves 5 bucks."

"Hallie… Just tell me what's going on." Derek pleaded. "Is that test for you?"

Addison couldn't let her best friend squirm to protect her. She took a deep breath and finally spoke up. "No, Derek. It's for me."

Derek looked somewhat relieved, but his eyes widened in surprise. "For you? You're pregnant?"

Addison rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't know, which is why I am taking the test."

"Does Mark know?"

"There's nothing for him to know right now."

"I think…" Derek cleared his throat. "I think you should call him. I think he should be there when you take the test."

"Thank you for your opinion, Derek. It means nothing to me." Addison snapped.

"Um… Listen." Hallie stepped between her best friend and her boyfriend. "Addison needs to handle this in her own way, and I'm sure that once she does, she'll talk to Mark. But for now, you should respect her way of handling things."

Derek sighed. "Okay. Fine."

Hallie kissed his lips lightly. "I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay… And uh…" Derek shifted awkwardly and looked at Addison. "Good luck!"

Addison snorted. "Thanks."

* * *

Addison and Hallie watched their chicken shaped kitchen timer intently as it clicked the time away. Cookie walked over to them and sniffed at the timer, wondering what was so interesting about it. She padded over to Addison and rubbed her pink nose against Addison's hand, sensing that Addison needed affection. Addison smiled slightly and ran her fingers over the cat's black and white fur. The soothing purr from the feline's throat calmed Addison – but only slightly. She had never been so anxious in her life. She absently rested a hand on her stomach. In only a few minutes, her life could be changed forever. How would she ever tell Mark? Or her family? They were so excited when she got into medical school. It would disappoint everyone.

"What happens if it's positive, Hal?" Addison finally asked.

"Addie…"

"I… I'm supposed to go to med school. It can't be positive. It just can't."

Hallie sighed and put her arm around Addison. "If it's positive, then you'll have to think about what you want to do, then you'll have to discuss it with him. Whatever it is, I'm here for you."

"You have to look at it, okay? I can't do it."

"I will."

"Hallie?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For everything."

"That's what I'm here for. I love you, Addie."

"I love you too."

Addison jumped, her heart skipping a beat as the timer finally dinged. She and Hallie exchanged nervous glances, knowing that her entire future, every plan that she had made, would be affected by what Hallie was about to see on that stick.

* * *

_You had to know that I was going to do that. :)_

_I really like Hallie… She's an amalgam of some of my best friends._

_Oh, I guess you probably want to yell at me for leaving you like that, so I will shut up now. :)_


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm so sorry, Addie…" Hallie held the stick in her hand, looking shocked. "It's positive."

"Please tell me… That you're joking." Addison clung to her final hope – Hallie was a bit of a prankster.

Hallie shook her head slowly. "I would never joke about this."

"And you're sure…?"

"I read the directions 5 times to be sure." Hallie placed the test on the bathroom counter and joined Addison on the floor.

"Oh my God." Addison whispered.

She stared straight ahead for several minutes before finally crumpling into Hallie's arms in deep sobs. Her breaths came so quickly that shallowly that Hallie was afraid she'd hyperventilate. Seeing her normally composed best friend so shaken and upset rattled Hallie, and she began to cry herself.

They remained that way for an hour – Hallie held Addison, whispered soothing words into her ear through her own tears, and let her cry until neither of them had any tears left. When Addison had stopped choking from the sobs and was able to breathe normally again, she just felt numb.

"I never thought that I would be 'that girl,' you know? The girl who has to give up all of her dreams because she gets knocked up." Addison wiped the tears from her eyes.

"You don't have to give up anything." Hallie said gently. "You can make this work. But now, you need to talk to Mark."

"It's going to ruin his life. I'm actually ruining Mark's life."

"Okay, his sperm? Every bit as guilty as your egg." Hallie reminded her as she slid the cordless phone over to Addison. "You're both equally responsible here."

Addison sighed and picked up the phone. Hallie was right. She slowly dialed the familiar seven digits, her heart pounding hard against her ribcage each time her finger hit a number. She put the phone up to her ear and let it ring once.

"He's not home." Addison announced to Hallie.

"It rang once!"

"Hello?" Mark answered the phone on the third ring.

Addison's breath caught in her throat. The phone slid out of her hand immediately after she heard his voice. She sat there frozen as Mark continued to say "Hello?" on the other end of the line. Hallie nudged her friend, but she didn't respond.

Hallie swiftly picked up the phone before Addison could stop her. She disguised her voice to sound high pitched and ditzy. "Oh my God! Like, I'm so sorry! Totally wrong number! Toodles!"

Once the phone was safely turned off, Hallie turned back to Addison. "What the hell was that?"

"I-I just realized that I am having his baby… He's the father of my baby, and I haven't talked to him in over 4 weeks! The whole thing freaks me out!"

"You still have to tell him."

"How can I make a phone call, invite him over here, and change his life?"

"His life has already changed. He just doesn't know it yet."

"I have to decide what I'm going to do before I talk to him."

Hallie sighed. It was like talking to a brick wall. "Why don't you talk to him and you can decide _together_ since the baby belongs to _both _of you?"

"Because if he bails on me, I'm stuck with a kid, one way or another. So really, my input is more important."

"Okay…" Hallie admitted. "You're right there. But you need to tell him soon."

"I will. Soon."

* * *

"I snuck you some extra foam, sweetie." The young barista at Starbucks said to Mark with a wink.

"Thank you, um..." Mark read her nametag. "Kasey."

"What's your name, hon?" Kasey leaned forward against the counter with a smile. Mark gulped when he realized he could see straight down her shirt (and it was quite intentional).

"Uh..." Mark cleared his throat. What the hell was wrong with him? He was usually a natural at flirting with women. "Mark."

"Well, Mark..." Kasey twirled a golden strand of hair around her finger. "I get off in a half an hour."

"Oh. Well, that's nice." Mark shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "You must be excited.

Kasey giggled. It was a high-pitched girlish giggle that Mark would have once found charming and endearing, but then, he found it rather irritating and painful to his ears. "I'd be more excited if you would do something with me after work."

"Uh, I'm sorry?" Mark stammered.

"You're too cute!" Kasey grinned. "So, what do you say?"

"I'm sorry, Kasey, but uh... I'm taken."

_Taken? What the hell was that, Mark? When have you _ever_ been taken?_

"Oh." Kasey stood up straight abruptly and blushed a little. "Well, I see. Have a nice day." She pushed the coffee cup toward him with a little more force than was necessary. He mumbled a few words of gratitude and walked to where Derek was sitting, baffled by what had just happened.

Kasey was Mark's type. She was cute, flirty, and blonde. She had a "y" name to go with it (Mark had enjoyed Lily, Amy, Sally, and Mindy). Why in the hell had he turned her down? She was the kind of girl he liked. She lacked substance, just like Addison had always said his girls did. So why did it suddenly bother him?

"Why have we been coming here every week, Mark?" Derek asked. "I have to be honest. I actually hate Starbucks. It's like buying coffee from 'The Man'."

"Well…" Mark cleared his throat. "Addison and I used to come here every Tuesday at 11, and…"

"Let me guess. You still come here every Tuesday, hoping that she'll show up?" Derek said, shaking his head. "It's been 5 weeks."

"I guess I'm just glutton for punishment." Mark mumbled. "I also just turned down a hot blonde who had possibly the greatest rack I've ever seen. I told her I was taken, and now you're here, so she probably thinks we're gay together. Addison is ruining my sex life, damn it."

Derek shook his head. "You're insane. And kind of pathetic."

Mark groaned and rested his head in his hands. "I know I am, but damn it, I can't get her out of my head. It's like she's inside of me.

"She feels the same way about you… Literally." Derek mumbled into his cup. Addison had allowed Hallie to tell him the results of the test. What else could she do? He'd caught her with it – he knew there had to be a yes or no answer to it.

"What's that?" Mark asked, puzzled by the comment.

"Nothing. I'm sure that she'll talk to you soon. She'll have to."

"Why's that?"

"Well, uh... Because you guys are registered for the same classes this fall."

"She could sit on the other side of the room."

"She won't."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"Have you seen her lately?" Mark asked casually as he sipped his coffee (of course, he knew Derek had).

"Yeah, I see her sometimes. When I'm at their apartment."

"How is she?"

"She's okay."

"Just okay?"

"Just okay."

* * *

Meanwhile, across town, Addison and Hallie were visiting Mom's Cafe, one of the most pathetic coffee shops in New York City. The shop was decorated in blue gingham wallpaper and paintings of bunnies, and all of the servers were dressed like 50s housewives.

"Um, Addison? This place sucks. Why couldn't we just visit a _different_ Starbucks?" Hallie demanded.

"Mark won't go anywhere that isn't Starbucks." Addison explained. "I'm safe here."

Addison had recovered remarkably well from her shocking news. The first night, she cried herself to sleep. The second, she did the same thing. But by the third morning, she had pulled herself together and lifted her head up, determined to take responsibility for her actions and make a decision. She wasn't a teenager; she was twenty-two years old, with a degree and a trust fund, and she would figure it out. At that time, only Hallie and Derek knew that she was pregnant, but she was preparing herself to tell her family and Mark.

"But it's so… Tacky." Hallie wrinkled her nose. "I'm surprised that _you_ can stand it, of all people."

"The tea's good, though." Addison commented as she blew a stream of cool air into her mug.

"Tea." Hallie repeated. "Do I sound like I'm from England? I have no interest in tea. This is America, and I want _coffee. _Rich, dark, caffeine-filled _coffee."_

"You're holding coffee." Addison pointed out.

"This?" Hallie gestured wildly to her cup. "This is not coffee! This is crap! This is coffee flavored _water_. Even the coffee back home is better than this! At least it's strong, for the coal miners."

Addison stifled a giggle and Hallie glared at her. "See? This is what happens when you deprive me of my recommended caffeine intake for the day. I get grouchy."

"I'd forgotten. You're scary this way."

"Would you just figure out what you're going to do so you can talk to Mark and I can drink good coffee again? You've known for a week, and he still doesn't know."

"I have decided."

"Enlighten me."

"I'm going to see if I can defer my medical school admission for a year…" Addison said sadly. "If I can, I'm going to go down to Admissions and Records and do that after I tell Mark."

"So abortion is out of the picture?"

"Out of the picture. I don't know what I'm doing with the baby yet, but I know I'm having it. This buys me some time, because I'm not going to try to start medical school pregnant… It would be far too stressful."

Hallie took a sip of her "coffee" and snarled, then set it down and looked back up at Addison. "If it means anything, I think you're making the right decision."

"It does." Addison smiled slightly. "Thanks."

* * *

"Promise me that we can go back to Starbucks by next week, okay?" Hallie pleaded as they walked back to their apartment later that afternoon.

"All right. I promise." Addison said with a small laugh.

Addison's eyes suddenly fell on a familiar figure, walking down the street. He was a bit scruffier than normal, and not quiet as well dressed, but there was no mistaking who he was.

"Oh my God, it's Mark!" Addison shrieked.

"What? Where?" Hallie turned her head in the direction of Addison's and saw their friend. "Oh shit."

By the time Hallie turned back to her roommate, Addison had opened the door of the nearest store and dashed inside. Her body collided with a display rack that was holding condoms, and dozens of boxes of condoms fell down around her. An older man at the counter of the store quirked his eyebrow, and it was only then that Addison looked around.

She had ducked into a sex shop.

Addison sighed, picked one of the boxes of condoms up, and gazed at it with a groan. "Where _were_ you guys when I _needed _you?!"

* * *

_Next: Addison is forced to talk to Mark._


	9. Chapter 9

A few minutes passed before Hallie entered the porn store. Her eyes immediately fell on Addison and her pile of condom boxes, and she burst into laughter as the ridiculousness of the situation.

"Wow. This is ironic, huh?" Hallie commented as she helped Addison reassemble the display.

"Don't even say it. What'd Mark say? Did he see me?"

"Nope. You're safe. He asked how you were, I said fine. We left it at that."

"So you didn't say anything?"

"Of course not."

When they had finished Hallie picked up the last box of condoms and held onto it. She casually walked over to a pair of leopard print furry handcuffs and grabbed those too before heading to the counter. Addison looked at Hallie with a raised eyebrow.

Hallie shrugged. "What? Since we're here and all..."

* * *

A week later, Addison sat on the couch, reading, while Hallie tossed clothing, toiletries, and other various items in a suitcase. She was taking Derek home to meet her family over the July 4th weekend, which amused Addison. 

"Would you like anything from home?" Hallie asked. "Could I interest you in a lump of coal, perhaps? Hey, we're having our arts and crafts fair this weekend! Maybe you'd like an exploding outhouse bank? Or a bug barn?"

Addison tilted her glasses down her nose and looked up at Hallie. "How about one of those awesome things you brought back last time? With the pepperoni?"

Hallie laughed. "A pepperoni roll?"

Addison grinned. "Yeah, those are awesome."

"Okay, fine. A pepperoni roll it is. But you have to tell Mark by the time we get back. If I come back and find out that you haven't told him, no pepperoni roll. I will eat it. Right in front of you. Slowly. Got it?"

Addison gave Hallie a mock salute. "Yes ma'am!"

"You're sure you'll be okay here alone?"

"Yes, mommy." Addison said with a laugh. "I'm all grown up now, thanks."

"Okay. Well, take care." Hallie gave Addison a tight hug.

"You too. Be careful driving home."

* * *

While Addison enjoyed having Hallie around as a roommate, she also enjoyed having the apartment to herself, especially since she needed time to think about what had been going on in her life. She spent the next day reading, watching a little TV, and tidying up the apartment. While she was cleaning up around the living room, a sharp pain shot through her abdomen, making her wince. 

_That's probably normal, _Addison thought, _I should just take it easy for a while._

Another pain, one so strong that it doubled her over, made her think that maybe it wasn't normal.

She moved as quickly as she could to her bedroom, and curled up atop the mattress. The pains were so strong that she was having trouble breathing. She had to bite her lip to keep from crying out.

_This can't be normal… I have to call someone. But who?_

The cramps subsided for a moment, and she took advantage of the moment to grab the phone on her nightstand. Addison squeezed her eyes shut as another stabbing pain hit her. When it subsided, she quickly dialed the only number she knew to call.

"Mark…" Addison grimaced as another pain shot through her body "I know I haven't talked to you in a month and a half… And I'm sorry… But I need you to take me to the hospital."

There was a brief pause as Mark digested the information. "I'm on my way." The phone clicked and the dial tone returned without any further questions.

* * *

Not much time passed before Addison, who was lying completely still and silent, heard the metallic noise of Mark's key sliding into her door. She had never been so grateful that they had exchanged keys in case one of them ever got locked out – before that day, she'd never needed his copy, but he'd needed hers plenty of times. 

"Addison... What's going on?" Mark called from the doorway, concern evident in his voice. "Where are you?"

"I'm sorry... I tried to get up... So dizzy..." Addison called back weakly.

The shaking of her voice frightened Mark. He jogged into the room and looked around. Other than seeing Addison curled into a ball on the bed, nothing looked terribly out of place. What did she need a hospital for?

Then he saw the blood pooled on the sheets.

"Oh my God!" Mark rushed over to her. "What happened? Did you cut yourself?"

"You weren't supposed to find out this way." Addison said with a tear running down her face. "You're going to hate me."

Mark pressed his fingers against her wrist to feel her pulse. His heart sank when he realized how quick the soft pounding was. "Just tell me."

"I'm 6 weeks pregnant." Addison whispered. "But I think I'm having a miscarriage."

Mark blinked at her several times. How could she have avoided him like that? How could she have kept something so important from him? Was she ever planning to tell him? His mind reeled from the questions, but her pale, frightened appearance prevented him from asking them, and focused him on the task at hand.

"You could be going into shock." Mark said softly, his own voice trembling with worry as he placed the back of his hand against her forehead. It was scorching.

"I know you must have a lot of questions..." Addison said, wiping the tears from her face.

"I do. And you will answer them later. Right now, I want to make sure that you're okay. Addison?" Mark noticed that her eyes had fluttered closed. "Talk to me, babe."

Mark lightly patted her cheeks with his hands, making her eyes slowly open again. "Don't fall asleep on me. Talk to me. How do you feel?"

"It hurts..." Addison whispered as she clutched her abdomen. "And I'm so cold..."

Mark gnawed at his lip. That wasn't a good sign. He quickly grabbed a throw blanket from the end of her bed and tucked it around her. He scooped her up, careful to keep the blanket in place. Her body felt limp in his strong arms. He cuddled her close to his chest, as though he was trying to force more life into her weak body. Her head fell softly against his chest, and he kissed her copper locks.

"Come on..." Mark said, forcing bravery into his voice, for her, though _he_ had never been so scared in his life. "You're going to be all right. Let's get you to the hospital."

* * *

Mark had only been in the emergency room one time before that evening, when he broke his finger during a tee ball game when he was eight years old _He_ had waited for three hours with an ice pack on his hand, so when Addison was immediately whisked from his arms to an exam room and a flurry of doctors and nurses surrounded her, he knew it was serious. 

"Hello, Addison. I'm Dr. Richard Webber." A kind faced doctor said to Addison with a reassuring smile before looking at Mark "And you are?"

"I'm her…"

What was he, exactly? He wasn't her boyfriend. He wasn't even sure whether he was her best friend anymore.

"I'm… I'm the father." Mark finally said weakly. "I'm Mark… Mark Sloan."

Richard nodded. "Hello, Mark. I'm the attending surgeon on duty right now."

"Surgeon?" Mark echoed.

"Yes… We're worried about the amount of blood she's losing." Richard explained, then turned to Addison. "You may need surgery."

Addison bit her lip. "Okay…"

Richard placed a hand on Mark's arm. "You'll need to wait outside so I can examine Addison and treat her, but I'm going to take good care of her. Okay?"

Mark nodded numbly as the Richard gave him a final, reassuring smile and moved swiftly to his team to give his orders. Mark sighed down at Addison and gave her hand a squeeze.

"I'm scared, Mark…" Addison said, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Shhh. You're going to be fine, Ads. You're tough." Mark kissed the tears off of her cheeks and stroked her hair.

He wanted to tell her the truth. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, that he had always loved her. He wanted to tell her that she wasn't allowed to die because she'd made him a better man. He wanted to tell her that they would make it through this, that they could make it through anything. He wanted to say so many things, but he couldn't force any other words out of his mouth.

"Mark…" Richard said gently.

"I'm going…" Mark gave Addison's hand a final squeeze before gently placing it back on the bed and walking toward the door. "I'll be just outside."

"Wait, Mark!" Addison called frantically.

Mark turned around to face her. "Yeah?"

"I… I'm so sorry. For everything." Addison said tearfully.

"I'm sorry too, Addie."

It wasn't what he had hoped for, but it was enough to keep him going.

With a heavy sigh, Mark reluctantly left Addison's room. He'd had a hard time convincing Addison not to be scared because he was terrified himself. He looked warily at the waiting room, which was filled with concerned family members and friends, then looked back at the exam room.

He'd never been on either side of a medical situation, not yet – he wasn't a doctor yet, and he'd never had to wait to see if someone was okay – but he knew that he'd rather be on the side with the control than on the side that had none.

* * *

_Yes, Mark should have called 911 instead of taking her to the hospital himself… But that's not romantic or dramatic._


	10. Chapter 10

Hey, I swear I didn't forget about you guys! My parents were in town this weekend for my birthday, so not much writing time. I'm officially old. :( Anyway, here is the next chapter of the story. I actually had to split it into 2 parts because it was getting ridiculously long and losing some of its impact. Enjoy!

* * *

"_The baby was growing in the fallopian tube, and that caused it to rupture." Richard explained._

"_An ectopic pregnancy." Mark recited from his biology books._

_Richard nodded. "Yes. It can't survive and there's no way that we can…."_

"_I know." Mark interrupted._

Mark broke his promise to Addison.

He felt horrible about it, but he couldn't stand sitting in the hospital waiting room with all of the other helpless people. He decided to put his time to good use, and go back to Addison's apartment to get her things. His car stayed in the hospital's garage – he needed to think.

On the lonely 8 block walk, Mark couldn't think about the fact that he would have been a father, had the biological process completed the way that it was supposed to. It hardly mattered. There was no baby. Part of him wondered if it was a boy or a girl, but he shoved the thought out of his head. It would only drive him crazy, and he needed to think about Addison.

Mark let himself into her apartment, which was eerily quiet. When he walked into the bedroom and grabbed her duffel bag out of her closet, he tried not to look at the blood-soaked sheets.

Distractedly, Mark began throwing things into the bag: Her favorite pajama pants that she'd dragged him into Victoria's Secret to buy (okay, so maybe he'd gone willingly), a Columbia t-shirt, some underwear (he felt a little like he was on a panty raid, but he figured she'd appreciate them). Mark's eyes finally fell on the sheets, and he shuddered slightly, remembering how he had found her. He quickly moved to the bathroom to get her toiletries.

He figured out which stuff was Addison's easily – one side of the sink was lined with bottles, tubes, and jars of products with French names, while the other had just a bar of Dove.

Mark's minor was Spanish, and the only French phrase he knew was "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?", so he had no idea what the items were as he shoved them into the duffel bag.

"She really has too much crap." Mark mumbled to himself as he gathered deodorant, her toothbrush, toothpaste, a makeup bag, and anything else he thought she might need while she was there.

Just as he was about to walk out of Addison and Hallie's apartment, he could feel himself about to break down. He had nothing left to do to distract him from the situation. He looked toward the apartment's ceiling.

"Okay, God, I know I haven't talked to you in a while, but you have to help her… This is all my fault, and I don't want anything to happen to her. I can't imagine my life without her in it… Please don't make me find out what that's like."

* * *

On the way back to the hospital, Mark bought a bouquet of brightly colored Gerbera daisies, a teddy bear, a magazine, a Snickers bar – anything he saw that Addison might like. It was like he was on auto-pilot.

The heavy smell of disinfectant hit his nose once again as he entered the hospital and he felt a shiver go up his spine. It nauseated him. He wondered if he would ever be able to work in a hospital without associating that smell with that day and seeing Addison pale, helpless, and bleeding.

The last time he had cried was the morning after he and Addison slept together. Before that, he couldn't remember the last time he cried – maybe when he broke his finger as a kid. But the smell of the hospital brought back the bad associations of what had happened to Addison, and he felt the tears stinging at his eyes and he quickly darted to the bathroom and into a stall. Once he was safely inside, he allowed himself to break down, and allowed the tears to storm down his cheeks.

"How can a woman do this to me?" Mark asked himself aloud, punching the wall.

"Women are the only ones who can break down a man." A voice said.

Normally, the mood that he was in, he would have coldly told the person to butt out of his business, but when Mark poked his head out of the stall, he saw a little old man of about eighty years old standing there, drying his hands with a paper towel.

The man gave him a sympathetic smile. "I don't mean to stick my nose in where it doesn't belong, but… Are you okay, son?"

With a sigh, Mark walked over to the sink and turned the faucet on, splashing cold water onto his face. "I don't know. My best friend is in surgery, and I'm really worried about her."

The elderly man supplied Mark with a paper towel for his face, which he took gratefully. "I'm Alfred Kimmel. My friends call me Alfie."

"I'm Mark Sloan." Mark shook his hand once he finished drying his face.

Mark held the door for Alfie and they exited the bathroom, then headed by to the surgical waiting room. They sat next to each other, automatically it seemed, because neither wanted to wait alone.

"Are you okay now?" Alfie asked.

"I've just never had to worry about anyone..." Mark murmured. "I hate it."

Alfie nodded. "I understand. My wife is having surgery… Peggy and I were married when we were 16." Alfie retrieved his wallet from his back pocket and showed Mark an old, worn monochromatic picture of him with his young bride. "She's as beautiful now as she was then. We have 5 children, 12 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great grandchildren…"

Alfie told Mark stories about raising his family during the war and the Depression. Mark could see the love he had for his wife by the way that his eyes lit up while he was talking about her.

"Enough about me." Alfie smiled. "Tell me about your friend."

Mark retrieved pictures from his own wallet. "This is Addison."

The first was the most recent one – the two of them wearing graduation gowns with their arms around each other, smiling at the camera and clutching their diplomas. It was taken less than two weeks before their one night stand.

Alfie laughed at the next one – Halloween, with Addison dressed as Pebbles and Mark dressed as Bamm-Bamm. She'd naturally been able to use her real hair, just tying it around a plastic bone she found at a theatrical store, but Mark had thrown a fit when she'd sprayed white paint in his.

The last one was one he had snapped of her on impulse when they were on the Staten Island Ferry. She was leaning forward slightly on the guardrail, with her hair blowing around her and a slight smile on her face.

"Did you take this one?" Alfie asked, gesturing to the picture.

"Yes…"

"Hmmm."

"What?"

"Well, I've never seen a man have so many pictures of his best friend in his wallet…" Alfie said thoughtfully. "And this one? It looks like it was taken by someone who's in love with her. Any chance that she's more than a best friend?"

"You know…" Mark stared down at the picture. "If you'd said that a couple of months ago, I would have laughed. But now…"

Alfie tipped his glasses down his nose and looked at Mark. "Would you mind hearing some advice from an old man?"

"Go for it…" Mark chuckled lightly. "I can use all the advice I can get right now."

"Peg's in here because she's having surgery, for pancreatic cancer. They say…" Alfie's voice choked slightly. "They say that she probably won't survive, but she wanted to try. We took a short vacation before she checked in, and we said our goodbyes, just in case.

She said she had her fairy tale, and if it was time for it to end, she was prepared for her happy ending."

"I'm sorry." Mark said softly.

"But you? You're young. You need to have your happy beginning. If Addison is your happy beginning, then you need to tell her. You need to grab onto her and never let go of her. For 64 years, I never let go of Peg, until today." Tears filled Alfie's eyes.

Mark bit his lip at the sight and squeezed his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I will tell her… How much she means to me."

"Mark?"

Mark looked up and saw Richard standing above him. "She's out of surgery."

Alfie smiled slightly, wiping the tears away from his wrinkled face. "Here's your chance."

"Thank you… For everything." Mark said, jumping to his feet and grabbing his things. "I hope that things work out for you."

"I hope so too, son…" Alfie smiled sadly. "I hope so too."

* * *

Richard and Mark took the elevator upstairs walked down the hall silently, stopping outside of Addison's room.

"The operation was a success. We've transfused her with blood and started IV antibiotics to fight off any infection. I was able to save the tube, but the scarring will diminish the tube's ability to function. She should still be able to have a healthy baby someday, but it might be more difficult for her to get pregnant. I'm going to keep her here for a few days."

"You saved her life, you know…" Richard continued. "She would have died if you hadn't brought her in when you did. She was in shock."

Mark nodded, staring straight ahead.

"Are you all right?" Richard took a seat next to Mark. "It was your baby too…"

"I didn't know until today."

Richard looked at him with surprise, so he went on.

"I didn't know she was pregnant. She didn't even tell me until she was bleeding to death." Mark sighed and rubbed his face. "I lost something I didn't know I had."


	11. Chapter 11

Addison normally wore enough makeup that her faint freckles couldn't be seen, but in the hospital, under the unforgiving fluorescent lights, Mark was able to see them – he noticed that she even had a small freckle directly in the center of her top lip. Mark marveled at the freckle while she slept. He'd never seen anyone with a freckle _on_ her lip. Addison stirred slightly. Mark sat back quickly and grabbed the magazine he bought for her, pretending to be reading.

Addison rolled her head to the side and looked at him. "Upside down."

"What?" Mark looked up at her in confusion.

"You're not really reading that. It's upside down." Addison's voice sounded tired, but not as weak as Mark expected.

"Right."

"Why?"

Mark cleared his throat in an attempt to keep the tears out of his eyes. Why in the hell was he on the verge of tears again? He chalked it up to the relief he felt at hearing her voice again. "Because you… Scared the crap out of me."

"_I_ scared the crap out of _me_ too, if it makes you feel any better."

"A little." Mark suddenly remembered the flowers and the bear. He retrieved them from the chair beside him and thrust them awkwardly at Addison. "These… Are for you."

"Thank you." Addison smiled a little, sniffing the flowers (which certainly smelled better than the hospital). She set them on her nightstand and cuddled the teddy bear close to her chest. It was so large that it left little room in the bed for her.

"I brought you some things from your apartment…" Mark said quietly, gesturing to the duffel bag. "I figured you'd be here a few days."

"Thank you." Addison said quietly, wondering how he could be so nice to her. "I appreciate it... Did you happen to bring a hairbrush? I hate my hair right now..."

Her red locks were in tangles from being under the surgical cap. Mark nodded and dug through the bag of her things until he found the hairbrush, which he handed to Addison.

Addison attempted to raise the brush to her head, but winced as pain went through her hand from moving the IV. She looked to her other hand, which was tethered to an oximeter.

"Ugh... Never mind. I have more wires than a robot."

Mark stood up from his chair and took the brush from her hand. "I'll do it."

Addison braced herself. It had been her experience that when men attempted to brush women's hair, it resulted in ripping and tearing at the scalp. She was surprised when Mark's touch was gentle, and that he knew to start at the ends of her hair to work out the knots.

"You're good at that..." Addison said softly.

"I've had practice."

"How's that?"

Mark flushed. "Derek has four sisters... They used to make me play 'Salon' with them."

Addison bit her lip to keep from laughing. "You let them get away with that?"

"You've never met Kathleen." Mark set a section of Addison's hair down and picked up another. "She could have sat on me and crushed me to death."

Addison laughed softly. "Don't make me laugh... It hurts."

"Sorry."

"So when are you going to yell at me or start asking questions?"

"I'm not going to ask you anything. I assume you_ thought_ you had good reasons for what you did, so I'm just waiting to hear what they are."

Mark worked carefully at a particularly difficult knot in Addison's hair. "Have you called your parents? You're still on their insurance. You don't want them to find out when they get the bill…"

"I'll call them later. They're in Connecticut visiting my grandmother."

Mark finished brushing her hair and sat back down. They were silent for a few minutes, Addison picking at the bear's brown, curly fur as a way to distract herself from the awkwardness of the situation, and Mark staring down at "8 Ways to Please Your Man" in the magazine.

"I was going to tell you." Addison finally said. "Today, actually… I thought it would be good, with Hallie and Derek out of town. I was cleaning the apartment when… It happened. I was going to invite you over and tell you."

Mark didn't look up. "I see. Were you going to keep it?"

"I was going to have it… I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it or give it up for adoption." Addison sighed.

"But why did you wait so long to tell me?" Mark asked.

"I didn't want to be the one to ruin your life." Addison whispered.

Mark finally looked up. "It wouldn't have ruined my life."

"You would have had to have changed your life completely."

"And I would have done it."

"I didn't want you to feel like you had to do that." Addison rested her chin on the teddy bear. "It was just a one night stand, it was…"

"You're my best friend, Addison." Mark interrupted. "It wasn't just a one night stand."

"I feel so weird right now…" Addison said, changing the subject. "In one way, I feel relieved. I was going to delay medical school to have him… Or her… I don't have to do that now. In another way, I'm disappointed… I was sort of getting used to the idea, you know? I thought about dressing him up in little Columbia shirts and taking him to Central Park. I thought that maybe I could be a good mother, and that maybe giving up medical school for him would be okay."

"I feel the same way…" Mark studied the stitching of his jeans. "Relieved and disappointed… Of course, I've only known for a few hours, but still..."

"You don't have to say that for my benefit, Mark." Addison said softly. "It's more than okay if you're only relieved and not at all disappointed."

Mark looked up. "I would have loved our baby."

He took a deep breath, remembering Alfie's words to him. "I would have loved our baby because he would have been part of us. I would have loved our baby like I love you."

Addison blinked a few times, trying to keep the tears from falling down her cheeks. "Mark, I…"

"I know this probably isn't the best time, or the best place, but I don't care. Maybe a romantic candlelight dinner would have made for nicer scenery, but it wouldn't have made the feelings any different. I love you, Addison."

Mark watched as Addison's jaw fell open slightly. He couldn't gauge her reaction. He took another deep breath.

"I've never felt this way about anyone before, and it scares the hell out of me, but I love you. I would go out on dates with women, and I would be bored out of my mind because they were so mind numbingly stupid. Then, the next day, I'd hang out with you, and we'd laugh and we'd joke, and it got to the point where I never wanted you to go home. I never realized that was the beginning of falling in love with you, until now, until I thought I was going to lose you. When we didn't speak to each other for 6 weeks? I was miserable. I'd lost the only person, other than Derek, who ever meant anything to me. You're the only person who can call me on my bullshit and get away with it. You're the only person who makes me feel like I'm worth something, who can see through my arrogant asshole routine. You… Addie, you're the only person I can actually see myself spending the next 64 years of my life with… The rest of my life with."

Addison was silent, overwhelmed by the emotion in his voice and the lone tear running down his cheek. She took a deep breath and finally found the words to describe how she felt. "I didn't speak to you after that night because I was afraid I'd lost you as a friend. I was afraid I was just another conquest."

"You could never be a conquest." Mark interjected.

"But the ironic thing is, I didn't have you as a friend all that time, and I hated it. I felt like part of me was missing, like I was just half a person walking around."

Mark sucked in a hopeful breath while Addison tried to gather her thoughts.

"Skippy didn't know me. He didn't know me all. That's why I refused to marry him. But you? You know me better than anyone else in the world, and that's scary and wonderful at the same time. You don't expect me to be anything other than what I really am, and I appreciate that so much, because my family has these ridiculous expectations for me, but you don't. You love me for who I am, and that's a relief."

Addison paused, and Mark could feel his heart pounding hard against his ribcage. He anxiously wondered whether she was going to say she felt the same way about him, or whether his heart was about to be broken.

"You're pompous and stubborn and a bit of a chauvinist, but I love you anyway. I wouldn't have you any other way. I missed you, and I don't ever want to have to miss you again. I love you too, Mark."

"R-really?" Mark stammered.

Addison giggled a little. "Yes. Are you going to kiss me or not?"

"Yes… Yes, I am." Mark said. He jumped out of his chair, wrapped Addison into his arms (carefully avoiding the wires), and pressed his lips against hers. He felt a surge of energy go through him, and after six weeks, he was finally complete again.

"Come on in. The sheets are awesome." Addison said sarcastically after they finally broke apart.

Mark set the teddy bear on his chair (so that there would be room for him) and carefully crawled into the bed beside her. He wrapped his arms around her body and buried his

face in her hair. They lay like that for several minutes, silently enjoying each other, before the door to Addison's room opened.

"How's my favorite patient?" Richard asked.

Addison looked up at Mark. "Much better…"

Richard looked at his watch. "You know, visiting hours are ending soon…"

"Do you think you could, um… Maybe bend the visitor rules?" Addison asked hopefully, with a sweet smile. "You know, for your favorite patient…"

Neither of them knew it at the time, but it was the first of many times that her sweet smile would win Richard over and convince him to do something that he probably shouldn't.

"All right…" Richard said, with a shake of his head. "But no funny business."

"You think I'd be interested in any 'funny business' after everything that went on down there today?" Addison laughed.

Richard nodded. "Point taken." He checked her stats, scribbled a few notes on his clipboard and headed for the door. "Take care of her."

"I will." Mark assured him. He looked back down at Addison, who had already fallen asleep. "Forever."

* * *

_All right, which one of you put a voodoo curse on me? Much like Addison, _I_ ended up in the hospital tethered to various wires and pumped full of pain drugs. I apparently still haven't managed to convince the doctors that I should get to keep my gallbladder, because they're _still_ trying to find something wrong with it. Oh, and my doctors were neither McDreamy nor McSteamy. More like McFat Bald Guys (but nice). Anyway, yeah, that's the last Maddison baby I'm ever going to kill!_

_So, here's where we stand. I have one chapter left. However, I have this idea constructed in my head of how their life could have been if they had been together back then. If you guys are interested, I will write a series of one-shots about how it would have been. What do you think? Just let me know. :)_


	12. Chapter 12

"Hmm… Your heart rate is still elevated." Richard observed on the fourth day of Addison's hospital stay.

"It's because I'm here." Mark winked at Addison, who rolled her eyes.

"You wish."

Richard chuckled. "I'd like to see that go down before you leave. I'll check it again in a couple of hours. If it checks out then, I'll release you."

The door swung open, and Samantha Forbes Montgomery and Dr. William Montgomery entered the room, hand in hand. Mark swallowed hard. He and Addison's parents had managed to miss each other during their visits over the previous few days. Mark and Addison's parents had met before on several occasions, and they'd always been very warm and kind towards him (of course, that was before he'd knocked up their daughter and she'd almost died as a result).

"Hi, mom!" Addison said brightly. "Hi, daddy!"

Her parents leaned over and hugged her, then pulled back and looked expectantly at Mark. He offered his hand timidly to Samantha first (she seemed the safer of the two). Samantha, ever the kind and gracious hostess, rejected the hand and pulled Mark into a tight hug.

"Thank you for taking care of her, Mark." Samantha said sincerely.

"Oh, I, uh…" Mark stammered for something to say before he was released from her grasp.

"Mark." William said stiffly. He shook Mark's hand, and Mark tried not to grimace as the bones of his hand were crushed together.

"Addie, I'm going to um… I'll be back later." Mark rubbed his right hand with his left behind his back, still reeling from William's grip.

"Oh." Addison sounded disappointed. "Okay… I'll see you later." Mark quickly slipped out of the room, with William's icy gaze following his every move.

"Oh, sweetie…" Samantha sat on the edge of Addison's bed and pressed Addison's hand between both of hers. She began feeling her forehead and doing the other actions requisite of a mother with a sick child. "Are you all right now?"

Addison stared back into her mother's identical blue eyes. "I'm fine, mom. Dr. Webber says that I can go home today if my heart rate goes down some more."

"Dr. Webber..." William's face lit up with recognition. "Richard Webber?" Addison nodded. "I'll be damned… He did part of his residency under me. I'll have to say hello, and thank him for everything."

* * *

"Mark." William said with surprise as he walked out of his daughter's room in search of Richard Webber. "You're still here." 

"Um…" Mark avoided William's eyes. "Yeah."

"Look me in the eye." William said sternly. "You knocked up my daughter; you can look at least look me in the eye."

Mark looked up and fixed his eyes on the older man's. "I didn't mean to get Ad—"

"Would it have been so hard to put on a condom? To have some respect for my daughter?"

"I didn't force her to do anything. We both screwed up."

"So, now you're blaming this on Addie."

"No! I'm just saying that it takes two people to have sex, and she was a more than willing participant."

It wasn't a smart thing to say, something Mark quickly realized when he watched the anger flash through William's eyes. The older man clenched his hand into a fist and set his jaw. "You son of a…"

"I would never hurt Addie on purpose." Mark broke in, quickly trying to smooth over the situation. "I… I love your daughter, sir."

The two men faced off silently before they were approached by a third man.

"William!" Richard greeted, unaware that he had just broken quite a bit of tension. Mark sighed in relief as Addison's doctor shook her father's hand. "I don't know why I didn't realize that Addison was your daughter before."

"He carried her in here in his arms... He's only left her side when I've made him." Richard patted Mark's back. "He's a good kid."

William eyed Mark suspiciously. "Is that so?"

"He was there when she needed him." Richard said.

"Excuse me, please…" Mark mumbled. "I'm going to get some coffee."

"Good kid…" Richard repeated, watching Mark walk toward the coffee machine. He turned back to William. "What do you say we check your daughter's vitals again?"

* * *

Mark wasn't about to go back into Addison's room with her father, so he retreated to the waiting room with his coffee, reading the paper. His eyes paused and his heart sank as his fingers flipped to the obituary section – "Peggy Kimmel." 

"Aw, man…" Mark whispered. He immediately jumped out of his seat, snatching the paper. He went to the phone booth and dialed a number that he remembered (because he'd dialed it earlier that day).

"I need to send some flowers for Alfie Kimmel to Turner Funeral Home. Could you write this on the card? 'I am sorry to hear about your loss, but I wanted to thank you for helping me find my happy beginning.' Sign it Mark Sloan... Yeah, I know it's me again. Thanks."

When Mark turned around, he was startled to see Addison sitting in a wheelchair behind him, wearing her regular clothes. "Oh, hey! What's with the wheels?"

"Hospital policy… They don't want me to fall or something and sue them." Addison shrugged, looking down at the chair.

"Where are your mom and dad?"

"Chatting with Dr. Webber… They should be along shortly."

"Oh."

"What was the phone call about?" Addison asked curiously. "What do you mean a 'happy beginning'?"

"It's… It's a long story." Mark mumbled.

"I've got time."

Mark sighed and quickly told her about meeting Alfie, and the conversation they'd had about happy beginnings and happy endings. By the time he got to the part about Peggy dying, she was in tears.

"That's so sad…" Addison whispered.

"I know…" Mark agreed quietly, brushing a tear off of her cheek with the back of her hand.

"I don't know what I'd do…" Addison looked up at him. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you, Mark."

Mark stooped down to her level and folded his arms around her, placing a kiss on her forehead. "Me neither, Addie… Me neither. You're my happy beginning. I know it's corny, but..."

"It's not corny." Addison interrupted, and covered his lips with hers. "You're mine, too."

* * *

"It's about time!" Hallie exclaimed, seeing Mark in Addison's bed that afternoon, with his arms wrapped snuggly around her body, and her face buried into his chest. She gazed in awe around Addison's room, which Mark had filled with roses in every shade of pink, peach, and red that he could find. 

Mark put a finger to his lips, then slowly and reluctantly disentangled himself from Addison's embrace. He replaced himself with the giant teddy bear that he bought her when she was in the hospital. Addison rolled over with a little sigh, but didn't wake up, instead clutching it tightly to her. She didn't seem to mind the change. Mark walked quietly out of Addison's room with Hallie, and shut the door behind them.

"Welcome home."

"She told you?"

"Yes, but..." Mark ran a hand through his hair. "It was an ectopic pregnancy."

"English, please, for the lit geek."

"The baby was growing in the fallopian tube, and it ruptured... She called me because she was bleeding really heavily."

Hallie gasped and put her hand over her mouth. "Oh my God! Does that mean that she's not pregnant anymore?"

"Yeah..." Mark sighed. "They had to take her to surgery to..."

Hallie flopped down on the couch heavily. "I don't think I want to hear any more."

"Her parents and I brought her home today. We made a big fuss over her, so she's pretty tired, plus she's knocked out on Vicodin."

"Wow..." Hallie shook her head. "I feel so bad. I should have been here."

"You didn't know it was going to happen. No one did." Mark took a seat on the couch next to Hallie. "You can't blame yourself, I can't blame myself, she can't blame herself. It's just... How it worked out biologically.

"It's so sad…" Hallie frowned. "All of that, and he was never meant to survive?"

"Well… I never thought I would have a bedside manner." Mark admitted to Hallie. "I told Addison that, the night we… Yeah. Before this, I never had to worry about anyone… I never knew what it was like to be on that side of the picture, a worried loved one. So, even though he didn't survive… He changed my life. I'll be a better doctor because he was in my life, even though it was brief."

Hallie nodded and patted his knee. "Is she okay?"

"She has some conflicting feelings about it, but I think she's okay."

Hallie studied Mark's rugged features, which looked tired. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"Me?" Mark considered the question. "I'm sad that it happened to us, but it brought us together. There were probably happier ways that we could have come together, but I finally admitted that I love her, she admitted that she loves me, and we decided to be a couple."

Hallie let out a little squeal and threw her arms around Mark's neck. "I'm so excited for you guys!"

Mark laughed and hugged the brunette. "Me too."

"Well, when Addie's up to it, I brought back a bag of pepperoni rolls and some of my mom's blackberry cobbler." Hallie pointed to the fridge and grinned proudly. "She won first place at the fair! You should have some, too."

Mark gave her hand a squeeze. "I will, thanks… Now, what are your intentions with _my_ best friend?"

Hallie flushed. "He's pretty."

Mark chuckled. "He's _pretty_?"

"Yes." Hallie insisted. "We enjoy each other a lot. I think we're going to make something of this."

Mark suddenly groaned and Hallie looked at him with surprise. "What?"

"I just remembered…"

"What?!"

"I owe Addison a month of laundry."

* * *

_And that's the last chapter, for their pre-med school days, anyway. :)_

_You know what the weird thing is? This story wasn't supposed to go like that at all, lol. There was no pregnancy, Addison's mom was supposed to die, and he was going to be there for her and all. I think this worked out much better though, more angsty. :)_

_So, on with the future one-shots! I'll go ahead and post them to this story. I've constructed this idea of what it could have been like if it'd been Mark/Addison instead of Derek/Addison. __I've already started them, and I have changed a couple of things that I think make their lives better, so we'll see what you think. :) First hint: My Mark is NOT a plastic surgeon… _

_I'll have the first one up for you soon! Let me know what you think. ;)_


	13. Chapter 13

"You don't think proposing on Christmas Eve is too cliché?"

"No more cliché than proposing on Valentine's Day."

"That _was_ pretty lame, bro." Mark said, clapping Derek on the back. "I can't believe you put the ring in her champagne."

"She loved that!" Derek protested. "She thought it was unique."

"You got it out of a book! _1001 Ways to be Romantic_!"

"You didn't tell her that, did you?" Derek asked, suddenly worried.

"No, I didn't tell her that…." Mark stared above them at the Tiffany and Co. sign.

Derek shivered and pushed his bare hands into his pockets. He wished he hadn't forgotten his gloves. A whirl of snow blew around them. "Do you think we could, you know, go in?"

"I just can't believe it." Mark muttered. "I can't believe I'm at this stage in my life. I never thought I would make it here. I'm about to buy a ring. I'm about to buy a ring and ask her to marry me."

Derek pressed a finger to his nose and found that he could no longer feel it. "I've heard that this stage of life is even better when you're warm."

"You don't think I'm rushing things?"

"You've been together for almost 4 years. No, I don't think you're rushing things."

"Maybe the timing isn't right." Mark mused. "We're about finish med school and start our residencies."

"Look…" Derek sighed. "If you're waiting for things to slow down, forget it. Things _never_ slow down. Trust me on that one. If you want her for the rest of your life, just do it."

"Have you been writing ad campaigns for Nike?"

"Damn it, Mark!" Derek nearly shouted, jumping up and down to keep warm. "Just walk in the damn store."

"All right, all right…" Mark sighed. "I'm going in."

* * *

"How am I supposed to make this decision?" Mark moaned, his eyes flickering over the endless rows of shining diamonds. "Maybe I should just bring her in here and tell her to pick one."

"What?!" Derek exclaimed. "What kind of a dumbass would actually do that?"

"I don't know…" Mark sighed. "Help me here, man!"

"Okay. Let's narrow it down. Does she like white gold, yellow gold, or platinum?"

"Yellow gold. She thinks the others clash with her hair and look like silver, so she doesn't see why anyone would pay that much for them."

Derek nodded. "Okay, good. You've narrowed it down to half. Does she like solitaires or rings with side stones?"

"She doesn't like solitaires. She thinks they're boring."

"Okay." Derek patted Mark on the back. "That helps a lot too. Now, just look around and see what you think she'd like that's yellow gold and not a solitaire."

"That one." Mark finally said after a few minutes of scanning each and every ring. He pointed at a 2 carat emerald-cut diamond with a smaller emerald-cut diamond on each side of the center stone. "That one looks like her. It's beautiful, classy, and unique."

Derek had to agree. "It's perfect."

"I don't need to see any others." Mark told the sales clerk, Gina. "You can go ahead and ring it up, please."

"Do you want to size it?" Gina asked.

"Is it returnable if he does?" Derek asked. Mark looked at him incredulously.

"What?" Derek shrugged. "I'm just saying, she turned down the last poor bastard who proposed to her…" Gina raised an eyebrow.

Mark shot Derek a glare. "I'd rather bring her in here with her actual finger to make sure that it fits. Besides, I want to use it tonight."

Gina looked somewhat surprised (after all, how many people dropped 5 figures the same day they planned to propose?), but she nodded and put the black velvet box into one of the store's signature baby blue boxes. She tied a perfect white bow around it and gently placed it into a matching bag.

"Try not to think about how you could have bought a whole car for that. Or two. Or maybe a small house." Derek choked out as he watched his best friend sign over a sizable chunk of his trust fund for the tiny blue bag. He was grateful that Hallie had been no-fuss about her engagement ring

Mark shrugged. "She's worth it. It's an investment. Maybe we'll give it to our grandkids someday."

"I certainly hope so!"

"What else am I going to use this money for? I already bought a car, paid for my education, got a place to live… I've got everything but the woman of my dreams as my wife."

Derek stared at him. "Okay, if I were a girl, I'd say 'awwww' to that. But as a man? I'm going to have to say 'give me a break!'"

Mark shook his head at Derek and grabbed the bag off of the counter. "Come on. She's going to be home soon, and we still have more errands to run."

* * *

Mark had moved into Addison's apartment the previous summer, when Hallie moved out after marrying Derek. They turned Hallie's old room into an office, where they were able to spread out and study comfortably (since that was how most of their time was spent, they appreciated the space).

As much as they both loved Christmas, they hadn't found the time to pick up a tree, though they had an assortment of ornaments: kitschy ones that Addison had insisted on buying when they cruised to the Caribbean with Hallie and Derek, ones that they had made as elementary school children, and ones that their grandmothers had made.

Mark and Derek managed to find one of the only trees left in the city. Standing only 4 feet tall, it wasn't much, but it somehow seemed like it fit in their apartment. Mark clumsily wrapped colored lights around it (that was usually Addison's job). He lifted the ornaments carefully from their boxes and tissue paper wrappings and hung them around the tree. Mark smiled sadly has he hung the last ornament, a crystal cherub that he had given her the first Christmas they were dating, to remember their baby.

He tied a slip knot around the engagement ring with red curling ribbon, and tied it tightly to one branch of the tree. Then, he scribbled down a map of the tree, wrote down what ornaments were next to it, and stashed his notes in a drawer (just in case – he wasn't about to lose the ring in their apartment).

As he was sliding the drawer closed, he heard Addison's key in the lock. He swore under his breath and leaped over to the couch, sprawling out into a lying down position. He grabbed the remote and quickly turned on the TV.

"Hey! Uhhh… You're watching Rugrats?" Addison asked with an arched brow as she set her purse and keys down on the coffee table.

"Yeah, you know, just studying some child psychology." _That was lame, Mark thought._

"I see…" Addison said, bending to give him a kiss. "You're all sweaty! You better shower before we go to mom and dad's for the party."

Mark pouted. "You haven't said a word about my surprise."

"What surp—" Addison finally looked up and saw their Christmas tree. She let out a little squeal and ran over to it. "When did you… How did you?"

"Merry Christmas, baby." Mark said, wrapping his arms around her waist so that her head was leaning against his back. "I'm sorry it's not very big, but…"

Addison turned her head and kissed his jaw. "It's wonderful."

"I want to give you a present, too…" Mark felt a slight increase in his heart rate as he said the words.

"But it's not Christmas yet."

"You need to have it tonight." Mark insisted.

"Okay…" Addison looked at their colorfully wrapped gifts, which Mark had placed under the tree. "Which one is it?"

"No." Mark shook his head. "It's _on_ the tree."

"On the tree?"

"On the tree. Go find it."

Addison began to carefully look around the tree. She ran her hands over its heavily scented branches. Her eyes grew sadder as she fingered the cherub (he knew she'd go straight to that ornament, so he placed the ring far from it – he wanted her to work for it). She continued to circle the tree, carefully scrutinizing each branch. He tried not to let his face betray his sneaky plans.

"Hmmm, ribbon! I bet this is i— Oh my God!" Addison gasped and plucked the ring from the tree. She held it in between her fingers and stared at it, tears filling her eyes.

"Oh my God…" Addison breathed "Mark, it's so gorgeous! And huge! And…" She looked at him. "Oh my God… This is really happening. I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe this is real… Is this real? Seriously? Is this really happening?"

She knew she was babbling like an idiot, but she couldn't stop talking.

"Can I borrow that?" Mark asked with a small smile.

Addison nodded, finally speechless. He took the ring from her and got down on one knee, holding it up for her between his thumb and forefinger.

"Addison, I'm lucky enough to have found someone to spend the rest of my life with, and I'm even luckier that she's my best friend. I love you, baby." Mark took a deep breath, feeling tears stinging at his own eyes. "You're the only person I want to hold, the only one I want to kiss, the only one I want to make love to… The only one I want to spend the rest of my life with. Addie, please say you'll be my wife… Will you marry me?"

All Mark saw was a flash of red hair in his face before he fell backwards, tackled to the ground by Addison, who began to cover his face with kisses. Her kisses moved to his lips and she kissed him deeply. They didn't get up from their embrace for several minutes, not even when Cookie trotted over and sniffed them with mild interest. She gave up on them and curled up under the tree for a nap.

Mark finally broke away from her, gasping for air. "Is… That a yes?"

"Yes!" Addison answered, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! I love you!" He grinned and kissed her. They relished in the moment for a few minutes, holding each other.

"Wait, where's the ring?" Mark asked in a panicked voice.

"Oh my God!" Addison exclaimed. "Did we lose it?"

Mark winked and slipped it on her finger with a grin – a perfect fit, to his surprise. "Just kidding."

Addison admired the ring for a moment, and was quickly on top of him again, her hands working his shirt up off of his torso. When she successfully removed it, she tossed it to the side.

"What are you doing, babe?" Mark asked with a raised brow. "What about the Christmas party?"

"We're going to be late." Addison announced, before drawing him back into her kiss.

* * *

_So there was our first one-shot. :) I'm planning about 7 of these, and I have started most of them. If there is a specific situation/event that you would like to see, feel free to make suggestions. I love them. :)_

_Did anyone catch my _Sweet Home Alabama _reference? ;)_


	14. Chapter 14

"Oh my God, the dress is trying to eat me!" Addison's muffled voice said as she flailed around. "I can't see!"

Hallie watched with amusement as her best friend fought the yards of lace and tulle. "The dress is _not_ eating you."

"And it doesn't fit! It's too tight!" Addison's voice got more frantic, "I can't even get my head through! It's my wedding day and my dress doesn't fit!"

"Hey, you might want to consider unlacing the back there, chief." Hallie looked up from a piece of paper she was scribbling on and noticed that Addison had left her corset ribbons tied.

The fabric struggle paused. "Wait. What?"

"The laces of the corset. You left them tied."

"Then why don't you help me!"

"Sorry, I was correcting your vows." Hallie said, setting down the paper with Addison's handwritten vows and a pen.

"_Correcting_ them?!" Addison exclaimed, still struggling to get out of the dress. "What was wrong with them?!"

"Hold still, or I'm coming in there!" Hallie warned.

"What was wrong with them?!" Addison practically shrieked.

"You called Mark a 'that' instead of a 'whom.' It's my pet peeve." Hallie explained, her hands working to unlace Addison's dress while her feet carefully avoided the gown's long train. "My students do it all of the time."

"This is why people don't have high school English teachers for matrons of honor!"

Hallie groaned as she tried to pull the lacing in the back of the dress apart. "Can you get out now?"

"All right, I can't get it off. I'm going to have to come in there." Hallie said, lifting up Addison's dress and ducking underneath it with her. "It's like a damn tent made of lace!"

Derek entered the church library, which had been converted to their makeshift dressing room, looking confused when he saw the moving lump of lace stumbling around the center of the room. "Uhhh… Is everything okay in here?"

"What are you doing in here?" Hallie demanded.

"He's always had the worst timing!" Addison moaned.

"Delivering a present for the bride from the groom. Hey… Is anyone naked under there?" Derek asked hopefully, a smirk playing on his lips.

"If you ever want to see _me_ naked again, you'll help us!" Hallie growled. "The dress is trying to eat us!"

"I told you so!" Addison wailed.

"Help us, damn it!" Hallie commanded Derek. "Pull it off, but don't tear anything! On 3. 1… 2… 3!"

On Hallie's count, Derek yanked the dress off, revealing Addison standing in a corset bra and crinoline slip, with a satin pillowcase over her head, and his wife wearing a fuzzy pink robe. He stumbled backwards onto the couch, the dress falling on top of him.

"You could have told me that it weighs 50 lbs.!" Derek complained. He fought his way out from under the dress and handed it to Hallie.

"And that's why I got married in a bikini!"

Derek tilted his head. "Why is there a pillowcase on Addie's head?"

Addison yanked the pillowcase off. "It's to protect my hair and makeup while I put the dress on."

"Oh…" Derek looked thoroughly confused.

Hallie studied the gown for several moments, trying to determine the best course of action. "Okay, we're making the corset as loose as possible this time!" Hallie sat down on the couch to pull at the champagne colored ribbons.

"You could just wear that down the aisle, Ad." Derek suggested, gesturing to her lingerie.

"And you could just go to hell, Der!" Addison retorted with a sweet smile, and threw her pillowcase at him.

"Tsk tsk." Derek shook his head, producing a small, wrapped box from his pocket. "Maybe I shouldn't give you this now." Addison shot him a glare. "Um, okay, clearly you are not to be trifled with right now, so… Here."

Addison took the box from Derek and eagerly untied the white ribbon around it. She opened the Tiffany and Co. box and found a pair of sapphire and diamond hoop earrings, set in yellow gold, nestled with a small, folded piece of paper. Addison smiled and unfolded the paper.

_Just in case you need a "something blue." I love you. I can't wait to make you my wife._

_Love, Mark_

"He spoils me too much…" Addison murmured with a grin. She reached into her purse and pulled out a wrapped box of her own. "Take this to him, please."

"Well, since you said please…" Derek kissed her cheek and took the box from her. "Chill out, honey. Everything's going to be great, and you'll look beautiful."

Addison smiled. "Thanks."

Derek leaned over and kissed the top of his wife's head. "Good luck, Hal." He smiled at Addison, then left the room.

"Okay, okay, I got it!" Hallie announced, standing up and holding the dress up triumphantly. "Let's give this another try. Let's put it on this way instead. Put your arms over your head, like you're going to dive into it."

Addison was skeptical, but put the pillowcase back over her head and followed Hallie's instructions. The dress slid easily over her body. "Good work. I'm impressed. Where's my mom?"

"She was… Um… 'Instructing' the florist the last time I saw her." Hallie took the pillowcase off of Addison's head and spun her around. She tugged at the bodice of the gown so that it was situated correctly on Addison's bust.

"Throwing a tantrum?"

"Basically.

"Where are the other bridesmaids?"

"They're ready. I told them to keep their distance until you were dressed. Let me lace you up."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay to stand?" Addison asked, peering over her shoulder as Hallie pulled the ribbons tightly. "You can sit down, if you want to."

"I'm pregnant, not 105 years old. I'll be fine. Suck in."

Addison held her breath while Hallie tugged the ribbons as hard as she could, then began to tie them into a neat bow. "Damn, Mammy. So this is what Scarlett O'Hara felt like."

"Can you breathe?"

"No."

"Then it's perfect." Hallie winked.

"Go ahead and put your dress on." Addison instructed. "I'm going to touch up my makeup."

Hallie quickly slipped her empire-waist dress of periwinkle chiffon down over her body. Addison reached over and fluffed Hallie's hair out over her shoulders.

"You look lovely. That dress was a good choice." Addison said, smiling.

Hallie ran a hand over her 7 month baby bump and smiled. "Yes, thank you for not growing too big for mommy to get into her dress."

"Okay, I'm ready." Addison said, taking a deep breath.

"Wait! You need the veil!" Hallie exclaimed, grabbing it from a chair and carefully sliding it into Addison's hairstyle. She looked Addison from head to toe, trying to determine if anything was missing.

"The earrings are blue…" Hallie murmured. "All kinds of things are new, your grandmother's pearls are old… Do you have a something borrowed?"

Addison's eyes widened. "Oh my God, no! I don't!"

"Calm down! Here…" Hallie unfastened her diamond tennis bracelet, a present from Derek on their wedding day, from around her wrist. "Wear this."

"Oh, it's beautiful, Hallie." Addison said with a smile, and put it on. "How do I look?"

The dress, which Addison and her mother had bought in Paris, was handmade of ivory Alençon lace and covered in beads and pearls. The dress was strapless, with champange colored ribbons and other accents that made it unique and classic at the same time. Her hair was in soft curls, and pulled back in the front. The veil was covered in pearls and reached her fingertips.

"You look like a doll!" Hallie sniffled. "I had this porcelain bride doll when I was little and you look just like her… Ohhh!" Hallie threw her arms around Addison. "My best friend is all grown up!"

Addison laughed and hugged her back. "Yeah, and older than you."

"Ready?" Hallie asked, offering her arm to Addison.

Addison smiled and linked arms with Hallie. "Ready."

* * *

"Did she like it?" Mark asked, nervously pacing the church nursery, where he had gotten dressed. "Did she like the earrings? And the note?"

"Yes, she loved them."

Mark let out a sigh of relief and rubbed his face with his hands. "Good. Good."

"Do you remember the wonderful, sage advice that you gave me on my wedding day?" Derek asked as he straightened Mark's tuxedo jacket.

"Yeah. It was: 'Calm the fuck down.'"

"Yes, it was. Words to live by. So do it."

Mark patted his tuxedo down. "Where are the rings? Oh my God, I don't have the rings. Addison is going to kill me!"

Derek pointed to the breast pocket of his own tux. "_I _have the rings."

"Why didn't you tell me you had the rings?!" Mark demanded furiously.

"It's a standard best man duty! My only jobs are to get you wasted the night before the wedding, hold onto the rings, and keep you sane." Derek took in Mark's frantic pacing. "At least I got 2 out of 3 right."

"What if she doesn't show up?"

"She's already here!"

"What if she doesn't walk down the aisle? Women run out on these all the time."

"Not Addie." Derek said, producing Addison's gift to Mark. "She asked me to give you this."

"Why didn't you tell me that before?!" Mark exploded. "I might have felt better."

Mark ripped the paper off nervously, and removed the object from the box. He smiled when he realized that it was a gold pocket watch. He turned it over in his hands, and read the inscription.

_Our Happy Beginning_

_June 1, 1996_

_Love, Addie_

Mark bit his lip to keep his emotions from overtaking him, and pushed the watch into the pocket of his pants. His heart rate instantly slowed, the queasy feeling in his stomach subsided, and he felt a sudden burst of confidence.

"Better?" Derek asked with a smile.

"Much." Mark nodded. "Let's do this."

* * *

Three hundred sets of eyes were fixed on Hallie, who considered bolting back out the door. She suddenly remembered why she and Derek had chosen to grab a few of their closest family members and friends to elope on the beach in Atlantic City, rather than throwing a lavish affair like Addison and Mark's. Every corner of the room was draped with hydrangeas, and dozens of candles were lit around the room. She looked toward the other three bridesmaids, who were already standing at the altar, and quickly made her way towards them. Hallie did _not_ like being the center of attention, even for 10 seconds.

Once Hallie reached the altar, Addison confidently glided down the aisle on William's arm (who had finally stopped hating him, by Mark's calculations, at the rehearsal dinner the night before), a huge smile on her face. When Mark first saw her, his breath hitched. He didn't realize that it was possible for her to look even more beautiful than she already was, but she proved him wrong that day.

The ceremony was a blur for Mark and Addison. They were too caught up in the surreal nature of the moment to pay much attention to what the minister was saying. The rings were exchanged, and soon, it was time for Addison to say her vows.

"You are my friend, my best friend, my confidant, my soul mate, my forever, and now my husband. I would never let all of that go, and I will always fight hard to keep it." Addison started by reading the vows, then she looked up at Mark and said the rest while looking into his eyes. "We've been through so much together, good and bad, and we will go through so much more; but, we will be able to get through anything, because our love is so strong. Right now, standing here beside you and promising to be yours forever, everything just finally feels right. I love you, Mark, and I always will. You are the only person with whom I could spend the rest of my life."

Hallie did a victory dance in her head at Addison's use of proper grammar. Addison was openly crying by the time that she finished. Mark smiled, taking a deep breath to keep the tears out of his eyes. He reached into the breast pocket of his tux and handed her his handkerchief. He waited for a few moments for her to compose herself before beginning his own vows, which he had memorized and rehearsed dozens of times.

"I love you, Addison. I love everything about you. I love how we can sit for hours and talk about everything and nothing, and the utterly awesome, amazing feeling that I get every time that I see you. There was a time when I wondered if I would ever want to get married, but that was before I fell in love with you. Now, I know that this is all that I want. I will always love you and take care of you. I'm so glad that things are falling into place, and that we will share a life we've always dreamed of – this is our happy beginning."

A few tears rolled down Mark's face, and Addison passed the handkerchief back to him, causing both of them, and their guests, to chuckle softly. Mark stared into her eyes, zoned out again until the most wonderful words he'd ever heard were spoken.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Mark surprised her by dipping her back during the kiss, much to the delight of their guests.

"We're married." Mark whispered in her ear as they walked back down the aisle together, hand in hand.

Addison grinned at him. "We're married!"


	15. Chapter 15

When Mark and Derek entered medical school, they thought that they would become surgeons. They both started as surgical interns. But as it turned out, only Derek continued the route that kept him in the OR the majority of the time, by becoming a neurosurgeon.

Addison chose obstetrics and gynecology as her specialty, like she planned.

And no one was more surprised than Mark when he changed his specialty to pediatrics.

There was a patient, a four-year-old named Justin, who formed a special bond with Mark during his internship year. When Justin was first admitted, Mark was charmed by his sweet demeanor. Addison was typically the one who got attached to her patients, not Mark, so it surprised her. Justin's parents weren't around much, and Addison thought that was why Mark insisted on spending so much time with him; it reminded him of his own parents.

Mark took extra time to play with Justin, and even busted his ass (literally) playing Twister with him once. As the boy got sicker, their activities got quieter, but Mark never stopped hanging out with him. Mark would read him stories, watch cartoons with him, and do simple crafts.

One day, Addison was changing in the locker room at the hospital when she heard a metallic crashing noise near her. She jumped and spun around quickly, and saw her husband waving his hand around in the air. There was a dent in his locker. She noticed that Mark's good hand was balled into a fist and that his whole body was shaking.

"What happened?" Addison asked softly, with concern.

"I lost a patient." Mark growled.

"Not Justin." Addison whispered quietly, knowing how fond Mark was of him.

"Yeah… Justin." Mark sank down onto the bench beside her.

"Oh, Mark…" Addison wrapped her arm around his shoulder, and he let his head fall against her chest.

"I was with Webber. We opened him up, and the cancer was everywhere… Way more than we thought." Mark roughly wiped a tear from his eye. "We were just going to close him back up, but he flat lined. His little body couldn't take the anesthesia and being cut open."

"Baby, I'm so sorry…" Addison kissed his eyes softly, tasting the salt of his tears.

"I knew it was a long shot, but I actually believed we might be able to save him." Mark looked up at her. "Is that crazy, Addie?"

"No, it's not crazy…" Addison pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "It's not crazy at all. We have to believe we can save everyone, whether it's logical or not, or we'd go insane."

The next day, to Addison and Derek's surprise, Mark met with Richard Webber, who was their Chief of Staff, to get his specialty changed from surgery to pediatrics. Richard always looked after Addison and Mark, especially Addison, feeling that he owed it to her father to check in on her after her parents retired to Florida. With his help, Mark was able to complete his residency in pediatrics.

After completing their residencies, and after Mark's father passed away and left Mark a sizable fortune, Addison and Mark opened a practice together – Sloan Pediatrics and OB/GYN Center. Addison especially loved the idea of being able to watch her patients grow from tiny embryos into children. Since they'd opened the practice, Addison hadn't delivered a single patient who didn't have Mark as a pediatrician.

Their favorite patients were their godchildren, the Shepherd brood.

"I still can't believe you have 5 kids!" Addison said with a shake of her head.

She watched as Hallie and Derek's eldest child, Caitlin, string beads onto a necklace after dinner at the Shepherd house one night. Addison and Mark frequently ate dinner with the Shepherds, at least once a week.

"You should! You delivered all of them!" Hallie said with a laugh.

It was true. Addison had even assisted with the delivery of Caitlin; the first birth she helped with as an intern.

"Well, to be fair, we didn't know we'd get 3 with this batch." Derek pointed out.

"Batch?" Mark quirked a brow. "Okay, you know you have too many kids if you start talking about them like they're cookies..."

Derek thwacked Mark's leg. He would have gone for a harder shove, but decided against it, since Mark was holding one of his daughters.

"And all girls…" Mark laughed, making silly faces at Kara, the baby in his arms. "How'd you pull that one off, man?"

Derek shrugged. "Hey, at least I know how to handle girls. I had plenty of practice with my sisters."

"You're my favorite." Addison cooed at one of Kara's triplet sisters, making her arms do little dancing motions.

"I'm sure that's not at all biased by the fact that she has your name." Mark commented with a laugh.

"It helps." Addison grinned, smoothing the baby's fine dark hair gently with one hand.

"What can we say? We ran out of names." Hallie teased.

"I think this one is my favorite." Mark decided, shifting Kara from one arm to the other. He tapped her nose lightly. "It's her eyes. She's the only one with brown eyes. And she's quiet."

"OWWW!" A screech from the other room rang out, interrupting the peace.

The four adults looked at each other, alarmed. Rachel, the middle Shepherd child at age five, raced past her parents and directly to her pediatrician. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was clutching her elbow.

"Dr. Uncle Marky..." Rachel sniffled and pointed to her arm, "I got a boo boo."

"Uh oh..." Mark gently passed Kara to her mother and took special care to examine Rachel's bump, as though it was a very serious matter. He finally looked up at her and said somberly, "I was afraid of this. It's tablospoonosis."

Rachel's teary blue eyes widened with surprise. "What's that? Can you make it better?"

"Well, there _is_ a cure, but you'll have to close your eyes first."

Rachel squeezed her eyes shut obediently. With a wink at his friends, Mark pressed his fingers into the little girl's sides and tickled her lightly. A giggle escaped Rachel's lips and her eyes flew open, the pain quickly forgotten.

Addison smiled at her husband's tactic. She loved watching the creative ways that he got children to cooperate with him. He'd been known to talk through various stuffed animals to the kids, play video games with them, whatever it took. Maybe it was because he was a big kid himself, but he had a natural flair for it.

"Better?" Mark asked with a smile.

"All better!" Rachel planted a kiss on Mark's cheek. "You're my favorite doctor ever! Thank you Dr. Uncle Marky."

"You're very welcome, kiddo." Mark said, ruffling her hair. He

watched his goddaughter race back out of the living room.

Derek crossed his arms in mock hurt. "_You're_ her favorite doctor ever? I feel like I should be offended."

Mark shrugged. "What can I say? My office has more toys."

* * *

"So… Being with Derek, Hallie, and the kids all the time had me thinking…"

"About what, babe?" Mark asked, turning down the covers of their king sized bed and flopping onto it, exhausted from playing with the Shepherd girls.

"What would you think about having kids?" Addison asked as she crawled into bed.

Unfortunately, she asked just as Mark was taking a sip of water, which he nearly choked on. "I hope you don't mean 5." Mark said, once he was able to speak again.

Addison laughed. "No, no, no... Maybe a couple though? We're 33, and we're not getting any younger, so I was thinking…"

With a smile, Mark set his water glass down on his nightstand. He wrapped his arms around his wife and drew her near to him. "I'd love nothing more." He placed a few kisses down her neck. "What do you say we get started?"

"We already did." Addison said softly.

Mark placed a few more kisses on her collarbone before her words sank in. He pulled his lips back from her and stared. "Wait a minute... Are you...?"

"Yes, I'm pregnant!" Addison burst out excitedly, "I had Sarah do the ultrasound. I'm sorry I didn't tell you first, but I wanted to make sure everything was okay, since I have a high risk of having another ectopic pregnancy."

Mark chewed his lip. "So, was everything okay?"

Addison reached out and squeezed Mark's hand. "_Perfect._ I'm 9 weeks along. I didn't think anything when I missed my period, but I've been exhausted lately, and I was throwing up this morning… So I took the test and had Sarah do the ultrasound today."

A wide, stupid grin stretched across Mark's face. Addison was sure that the one on her own matched it. "What do you think?"

He placed his hands on the sides of her face and pulled her to him to kiss her lips. "I am absolutely thrilled, babe."

"Grea!" Addison smiled with relief.

"But how? We've used protection every time."

Addison cleared her throat. "Except that one time…"

"What one time?"

"When we were at Cedar Point…" Addison blushed at the memory. "On top of the ferris wheel… And it got stuck. We didn't exactly have protection then."

"Oh… Right." Mark chuckled. "And then when the ride started again, I got startled and I forgot to pull out."

"Not that THAT'S good birth control anyway." The OB/GYN chided him.

"Hey, we were horny." Mark shrugged. "And my boys are _good._"

"Oh my God…" Addison slapped her hand against her forehead in realization. "We had sex on a ferris wheel. We conceived our first child at an _amusement park_."

"Well…" Mark gave her a wink. "At least he won't be afraid of heights." Addison gave him a shove. "What? It'll be a good story to tell him someday. He'll love it."

"He'll be appalled!"

"Why? It was romantic. It was beside the lake, it was dark out, the wheel was all lit up…"

"Oh, yes, trying not to tip the gondola and fall 150 feet to our deaths was very romantic." Addison recalled.

"I have to tell you, Ads…" Mark brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I'm glad we didn't have protection."

"You're not mad?"

"Of course not!" Mark kissed her gently. "This is a wonderful, amazing surprise."

Addison let out a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad that you are excited about this."

"What could be more exciting than my wife carrying our child?" Mark asked.

He gently eased Addison's pajama top up and stared at her stomach. He wondered how he hadn't noticed the slight curve of it before then. Gently, just barely touching her, he ran his fingers down over the curve.

"Hi Baby Sloan! I'm your Daddy." Mark swallowed, trying to get the lump out of his throat. "I'm going to teach you to love the Yankees and hate the Red Sox. In fact, you are to hate the color red in general… Except, of course, for mommy's hair, because we love mommy's hair. We'll play catch and you'll be the best Little League player ever."

Addison stifled a laugh. "What if she's a girl?"

Mark looked away from her stomach and up at her indignantly. "She can still play! Gosh, I thought you were more of a feminist than that, Addie!"

Addison held up her hands in defeat. "Right. Sorry!"

Mark returned to her stomach and gave it a light rub. "Anyway, as I was saying. Little League. I think you'd be a good catcher. We'll get you into an Ivy League school, like mommy and I went to.

Addison laughed. "Maybe we should slow down a bit. Those are high expectations for a baby who can't even _hear_ them yet. We don't want to be _our _parents."

Mark frowned slightly. He gave her stomach a light kiss and crawled back up the bed. "You're right, I'm sorry. It's just that I take care of kids every day, and I don't get to take them home…" Mark paused, then continued shyly. "I get to take this one home."

Addison nuzzled her face against his bare chest and smiled as his arms wrapped around him. She inhaled his fresh, clean scent and closed her eyes. "I know what you mean."

* * *

_Okay, I gave them a baby, and I'm not going to kill it... So, can I PLEASE keep my gallbladder:P_

_From my research, OB/GYN and Pediatrics residencies are like 4 years, so that's why they're much younger than if they had done surgery._

_The next chapter will be fun. :)_

_Reviews are love. ;P_


	16. Chapter 16

_This one has two parts so that I could get you guys an update faster. Also, it's pretty long. Life will be better once my stupid summer class ends on Thursday. :) I should be able to update then or Friday. :)_

* * *

Over 6 months later, Addison was knocking on Mark's office door, which was covered in finger paintings and crayon drawings, gifts from his patients. One of the pictures fluttered to the floor as she knocked. Addison tried to bend over to pick it up, but gave up quickly with a sigh. She couldn't even see her _toes,_ let alone figure out the location of the fallen drawing. Addison examined the pictures on the door while she waited for Mark to answer, wondering why children always draw just a blue line for the sky. 

"Addison!" Mark crossed his arms when he opened the door.

"I knocked that off." Addison pointed to where she thought the picture had fallen.

"Addie, what are you doing here?" Mark's brow furrowed with concern as he picked up the picture. "Are you okay?"

"A wife can't bring her husband lunch?" Addison pouted, holding up a bag from Katz's Delicatessen.

"A wife can, but a _pregnant _wife who is past her due date and is supposed to be resting should not." Mark took her arm and carefully guided her into the chair across from his desk.

Addison rolled her eyes at the gesture. At first, she'd found his hovering sweet, but it was starting to wear on her nerves. After all, she wasn't an invalid! She placed the bag on his desk and retrieved the sandwiches - pastrami for him, turkey for her.

"I can't help it. I'm so _bored._ I hate soap operas. I could have won every showcase on the _Price is Right_ in the past week, but the people on TV are too stupid to win. Oh, and if I see Maury do one more paternity test, I'm going to kill someone. Seriously, are these men really _that_ stupid that they don't know why they're being dragged on there? Have they _seen_ the show?"

"It can't be that bad."

"One woman had 10 men with her!"

"Not that." Mark unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite. "Staying home. It can't be that bad. Isn't it nice to relax?"

"No." Addison said bluntly. "It's boring."

"Maybe you could try taking up a hobby or something?"

"I tried knitting. I was going to make him booties. I poked myself in the head with the needle instead." Addison said, pointing to a tiny red welt on her forehead.

Mark suppressed a laugh. "Oh, sweetie…"

"I also made a list of everything that I won't miss about being pregnant. Then I painted my fingernails. Then I took that color off and painted them again. Then I rearranged the spice rack into alphabetical order, and did the same with the DVD rack."

"Well, it sounds like we're organized." Mark commented.

"Then I decided to try all of the old wive's tales to induce labor, even though I know they're crap."

"Is that why we had sex last night?" Mark asked, a smile playing on his lips.

"Yes. Sorry, I used your body in hopes of inducing labor."

"I'm not complaining."

"I ate a jalapeno pepper, but that just made my mouth burn. I tried a bath. That was nice, but my huge belly made it almost impossible to get out of the tub." Addison sighed in frustration, quickly finishing off the last bites of her sandwich. "Oh, and people will _not_ stop calling me to see if he's here yet. Your mother has called 3 times, and my mother has called 5... And it's only noon! It's so annoying."

"I can talk to them, tell them to stop bothering you." Mark suggested patiently.

Addison ignored him. "And I'm an elephant. A freaking elephant. As though I don't feel fat enough, I'm supposed to sit around and eat bon bons? I don't think so."

"You're not an elephant. You're beautiful."

"And you're full of shit."

"He's not even_ that _big." Mark pointed out. It was a mistake; he knew it the moment the words were out of his mouth.

"When you have a baby in your uterus, you can decide how big or small it is." Addison snapped, with a glare that made Mark want to hide under his desk.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Mark's eyes fell on a couple of shopping bags sitting beside her. "Looks like you've been out on the town today."

"Retail therapy." Addison said around a mouth of food.

Mark grimaced as his eyes fixed on the bags with "Prada" emblazoned on the side of them. He wasn't looking forward to getting his American Express bill.

"I didn't even bother to wear clothes, because I'll be too huge to wear them still. But I got shoes." Addison looked down at her flats with disdain. "I can't _wait_ to wear cute shoes again."

"He'll be here soon." Mark said soothingly.

"He's 8 days late already." Addison grumbled. "Figures, he'd be late like his father."

"You'll be induced next week if he's not here by then, so he'll be here soon, for sure." Mark reminded her, ignoring the jab at him. They'd become frequent in recent weeks.

"Not soon enough."

Mark sighed in defeat. "Baby, what can I do to help? Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it."

"I-I don't know." Addison's lower lip began to quiver. "I'm just so miserable."

"Oh, honey." Mark set down his sandwich, got up from his desk, and wrapped his arms around her just as she started to cry. He ran his fingers through her red locks as she buried her head into his chest, sobbing.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm s-such a bitch l-lately and I d-don't know w-why!"

"It's the hormones, sweet pea." Mark mumbled into her hair, his hand rubbing her back softly. "You know that."

Addison pulled back and wiped the tears from her face. "I'm so s-sorry."

Mark gently kissed the remaining tears away. "No need to be sorry." He gently rubbed her stomach, smiling when the baby kicked at his touch. "Hey, you in there, Monkey. Give your mom a break and come out and meet us already."

Addison frowned when Monkey didn't give a kick or hiccup or any sign that he was paying attention. "He's not listening. He's already disobeying us and he's not even born yet."

"Look, I appreciate you bringing me lunch." Mark said, kissing her cheek gently. "I'm glad I got to spend time with you. But now, I think you need to go home and rest. Maybe you'll feel better."

"Doubtful…" Addison said sadly.

"I'll think of something to make you feel better."

"I don't know what you could do…"

Mark tipped her chin up gently so that she was looking into his eyes. "Trust me. Okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

A few minutes after Addison left, Mark had an idea. He picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number. 

"Hello?" The voice on the other end sounded out of breath.

"Hallie… It's Mark."

"Mark?"

"Listen… I need your help with Addison."

"What? Why? Is she okay? Is it the baby?"

"No, nothing like that. Physically, she's fine. But basically, nothing I say is right, nothing I do is right, and I think she needs to spend time with someone who has a vagina, someone who can empathize with her situation."

"Like me?"

"Well, you have a vagina and 5 kids, and you're her best friend, so I figured you'd be a good candidate. Could you do it tonight?"

"Ugh, Rachel!" Hallie moaned in frustration. "She just rubbed ice cream all over the fridge. My kitchen is decorated with tiny chocolate handprints."

Mark stifled a laugh, knowing that it wouldn't be too long before he had similar problems. His near laugh turned to concern when he heard a screech in the background.

"Now she bumped her head. I swear, she _tries_ to come to your office." Hallie mumbled, balancing the phone between her head and her shoulder while she bent over to hug her daughter. She grimaced as the little girl's sticky hands wrapped around her white shirt. With 5 kids, she should have known better than to own _anything _white.

"If I didn't know you guys, I'd think you were mistreating her." Mark teased.

"Haha. Okay…." Hallie was flustered. "So you said something about spending time with Addison tonight?"

"Yes, can Derek watch the girls?"

Hallie hestitated. "I don't know about leaving them with Derek, because the last time I did that, he bought Caitlin and Rachel gummy bears and red slushies for dinner and they didn't go to bed until 4 a.m."

"What about Derek's mom?" Mark suggested.

"There's an idea. I can give her a call."

"No, no. I'll do it. You definitely have your hands full."

"You sure?" Hallie asked, looping her arm around Rachel to catch her as she ran by. "I know you're at work."

Mark shrugged. "My 1:30 canceled. I've got some time."

"Okay. Let me know what she says."

"Thanks, Hal."

Mark hung up with Hallie and picked up the phone again to dial a number he'd known by heart for 25 years.

"Hey, Mom. It's Mark."

"Hi, honey! I was just thinking about you. Do I have a grandson yet?" Mrs. Shepherd asked hopefully.

"No… No, not yet." Mark said, twisting the phone cord between his fingers. "Actually, that's why I'm calling you. Addison has been a little…"

"Impossible?" Mrs. Shepherd supplied.

"Yes, yes." Mark said, relieved that he was talking to a woman with plenty of experience in pregnancy and childbirth. "And she's sort of…."

"Driving you insane." Mrs. Shepherd said knowingly. Mark could hear the smile in her voice.

"Yes, definitely. I was thinking that a night with Hallie might be good for her. They could both use a break."

"Oh, definitely." Mrs. Shepherd agreed. "You need me to take the girls for the night?"

"Yes." Mark said, relieved that he didn't have to ask. "We would all appreciate that so much. It would be wonderful."

"No problem. Not like I'm not used to caring for five children."

"Actually, it was more like six." Mark smiled, remembering all of the meals Mrs. Shepherd had fed him when his own parents were too busy to care for him.

"Yes, yes it was. And I loved every minute of it." Mrs. Shepherd assured him. "Tell Hal I'll be there at 5 to pick them up. Give Addie my love, and you better call me again when my new grandbaby gets here."

"You'll be one of the first to know." Mark promised.

"Love you, Hurricane." Mrs. Shepherd said, using her childhood nickname for him (he had frequently and inadvertently wreaked havoc on her house many times, due to his clumsiness).

"Love you too, Mom."

* * *

"Hallie!" Mark exclaimed gratefully when he saw his friend standing at his front door, though he knew she was coming. Addison was even grumpier that evening than she had been that afternoon. "Thank God you're here." 

"I brought reinforcements." Hallie said. She was holding two pints of Ben and Jerry's, and Derek was behind her with a couple of Russell Crowe DVDs.

Mark smiled. "She'll love that."

Derek clapped Mark on the back and held up two tickets. "And we're off to see the Yankees, my friend. First game of the season."

"How'd you get those on such short notice?"

Derek shrugged. "I had one of the players as a patient once. He got beaned in the head by a ball and had a concussion, so I can get tickets whenever I want."

"Awesome. The tickets, I mean. Not the guy's head."

"Who's there?" Addison asked, coming in from the other room. "Oh, hey, Shepherds."

"I'm here to play with my poor, knocked up friend." Hallie said, giving Addison a gentle hug. "I've got ice cream and Russell Crowe. You in?"

Addison nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. On both counts."

Mark ran his fingers through Addison's hair. "Will you be okay if we go to a baseball game?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

Addison rolled her eyes. "I'm not made of glass."

"Okay…" Mark said hestitantly.

Derek took Mark's elbow. "Come on. Let's go and let them do their girly thing."

* * *

"Have you thought of any names yet? I know you're not going to let Mark name him Monkey."

Addison laughed. "Well, I haven't talked to Mark about it yet… But I was thinking of Justin."

"Justin, Justin…" Hallie ransacked her brain. "Why does that sound familiar… Oh! It was his patient, right? The little boy?"

"Yes, his inspiration for going into peds." Addison said, dunking her spoon into the Cherry Garcia.

"I think that'd be sweet." Hallie said thoughtfully.

"So, be honest with me. How badly does it hurt?" Addison asked.

Hallie laughed. "You've delivered hundreds of babies, and you have to ask?"

"It's different being the catcher than being the pusher." Addison said.

"I can honestly tell you that there's no way to describe the amount of pain that you'll be in, and all I can say is take the damn drugs."

"Of course I'm taking the damn drugs! I'm a doctor! I'm not crazy."

"It won't matter when you're holding him though. You'll forget the whole thing."

"If he ever decides to come out." Addison grumbled.

* * *

"Ow!" Addison exclaimed, grasping her stomach. "He kicked me AGAIN. What did I ever do to him?" 

Hallie looked away from _Gladiator_ and at Addison nervously. She glanced at her watch. "That's the third time you've said ow! The last time was 15 minutes ago… Is the pain still going on?"

Addison gritted her teeth. "Yes."

"And does it feel like it's coming in waves?"

"Yes."

"Then you're having contractions, Addie!" Hallie exclaimed. They'd had the same argument fifteen minutes before.

"I'm an OB/GYN! I'd know if I were having contractions!"

"And I've given birth to 5 children, and I think _I'd_ know if you were having contractions." Hallie rushed to her friend's side and helped her up. "I'm taking you to the hospital."

"Really, I don't think that it's la…" Addison was cut off by her water breaking.

Hallie put a hand on her hip. "What was that, chief?"

"He's coming…" Addison whispered. "I can't believe he's finally coming…"

"Yes, he is, and I'm not going to let you give birth in your living room, so we are going to the hospital _now_. I'll call Mark and Derek and tell them to meet us there."

"I'm going to be a mom." Addison said dazedly.

"Yes." Hallie squeezed her hand and smiled. "Yes, you are."


	17. Chapter 17

_Woohoo, my horrible class is over!_

_Okay, so I stole a character from canon and made her AU so she could be around. :)_

_One of you will recognize this idea because I originally planned to use it for another fic, and I showed it to one of you. :) I decided it worked better with this one. If I EVER finish that other fic, I have a different idea for it._

* * *

Addison's obstetrician was Miranda Bailey, whom she was friends with in medical school. She had remained close friends with the short, stout, no-nonsense doctor after their graduation and residency. Miranda and her husband frequently spent time with the Shepherds and the Sloans.

"How's she doing, Hallie?" Miranda asked, walking into the hospital room where Addison had just gotten settled.

"Well, Miranda, I firmly believe that if she could reach it, she'd be trying to examine her own cervix." Hallie said.

"That's kind of a nasty mental image." Miranda commented.

"Hey!" Mark called out cheerily, entering the room with his arm around Derek. Both were swaying slightly, side to side.

Miranda eyed Mark. "You look amazingly relaxed for someone who's about to be a dad for the first time…"

Addison examined him with a sigh. "That's because he's _drunk_!" She spat the words out.

"Drunk?!" Miranda looked back at them in shock, then turned to Hallie for answers.

Hallie sighed. "Addison and I decided to have a girls' night before the babies were born… Our husbands went to a Yankees game. We were watching a movie when Addison's contractions started, so I brought her straight here and called to ask Mark and Derek and meet us."

"You two fools got that drunk at a _baseball game_?" Miranda demanded.

"Nooooo, silly!" Mark giggled. "We got drunk at a _bar._ Where there's lots and lots and lots of alki-hol!"

Hallie whacked her husband on the back of the head with an open palm. "What the hell were you thinking, getting him so drunk?!"

Derek rubbed the back of his head, more for show than anything else, since he had too much alcohol in his system to feel much. "That fat lady over there has been mean to him for a month! I was jus' trying to cheer him up."

Hallie didn't have to hit her husband that time, because Addison decided to fling her hard plastic cup full of ice chips at his head. A perfect hit.

"Hey! Ow!" Derek complained, clutching his head.

"Nice shot!" Mark clapped. "She should play for the Yankees…"

"Whas the big deal? We jus' went out for a lil drinks… Well, lots of lil drinks. They come in a glass about thissssss big!" Derek held his thumb and forefinger a few inches apart.

"You were doing shots?" Addison shouted incredulously.

"Yup! Dooey told 'em I'm gon' be a daddy," Mark said, apparently having invented a new nickname for Derek in his drunken state. "And people jus' kep' buyin' us shots and shots and shots and shots…"

Mark trailed off as he saw something that caught his eye. He snatched a speculum off of the instrument tray and worked the tool so that the metal blades opened and closed rapidly.

"Lookie, Dooey! I made a platyputh! Quack, quack, quack!" Mark nipped at Derek's shirt with the instrument.

"Marky…" Derek giggled. "Platyputhes don't say quack!"

Mark's face fell. "Oh. Whadda they say?"

"Give me that!" Hallie angrily snatched the speculum out of Mark's hand.

"Your wife is mean. She took my toy…" Mark pouted.

"What the _hell_ is going on in here?" A voice came from the doorway. "I can hear you idiots all the way down the hall."

Mark and Derek looked at each other guiltily and turned to see Richard standing in the doorway with his arms crossed, clearly not amused by their actions. They quickly pointed at each other.

"His fault." Mark claimed.

"His!" Derek insisted.

"They're drunk." Miranda explained simply.

"Miranda, get them a couple of banana bags." Richard ordered. Miranda nodded and rushed out of the room.

"Hear that, Marky? We get bananas!" Derek cheered.

Addison cried out in pain and Mark turned to her, alarmed. He stumbled over to her bedside and took her hand.

"Where's it hurt, Addiieee?"

"Where do you think, you dumbass?!" Addison shrieked.

"All right, all right! Enough!" Richard shouted. "I'm your Chief of Staff, Shepherd, and I'm ordering you to get your ass to an on-call room and sleep it off, or go home. Sloan, you have privileges at this hospital, so I guess I can order you around too. On-call room, _now_."

"No!" Addison cried out. "He can't leave me. We're supposed to do this together!"

"You really think he's that much use to you right now, Addie?" Richard looked at Mark skeptically.

"He's still my husband!"

"I've been thinkin'…" Mark said slowly, "We should name the baby Jack Daniel Sloan, after my best friend!"

"Oh, for the love of…" Hallie muttered.

Miranda returned, carrying IV bags that were filled with yellow, vitamin-filled fluid. Richard gestured for Miranda to give him the supplies. Mark yelped in pain as Richard shoved the IV needle into his hand, a little harder than was necessary.

"Damn, that hurt!"

"Oh, that hurt? _THAT_ hurt?" Addison screamed at him. "That little tiny damn _needle_ hurt? What about your _son_ who is trying to force his way out of my body right now? Do you think _THAT tickles_?"

"Addison…" Miranda cleared her throat. "Let him go and sleep it off. You've got time. We'll make sure he's here when it gets close."

"Okay." Addison relented.

"Don't worry, Ads." Hallie assured her, squeezing her hand. "I'll be here with you the whole time."

* * *

Four hours later, Hallie was trying not to scream in pain, and Addison was screaming openly in pain.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" Hallie groaned, squeezing her eyes shut as her best friend crushed her fingers together. "Why did I agree to this?!"

"Why did _you _agree to this?! Why did I agree to _this_?!" Addison gestured wildly to her abdomen.

"As I recall, you didn't exactly plan this." Hallie pointed out, then screeched as Addison clenched her hand tighter. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding!"

"I think it's time to get your husband." Miranda said after examining Addison. "It won't be too much longer. You're at 7 centimeters."

"Oh my God." Addison said softly. "I am getting close."

"I'll go get Mark." Miranda offered. She snapped off her gloves and left the room.

"I'm scared, Hallie." Addison whispered, looking up at the younger woman. "I'm scared of the next part."

"Don't be scared, Addie." Hallie brushed the sweaty red locks out of Addison's face. "That's the part that will bring him here."

"You promise everything's going to be okay?"

"I swear."

Miranda re-entered the room with Derek and Mark in tow, looking sheepish. Mark immediately rushed to Addison's side and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

"Well if it isn't the gruesome twosome." Hallie released Addison's hand and passed it to Mark, who kissed it gently and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm so, so, so, so sorry, baby." Mark murmured over and over.

"It's okay. You'll pay for it. Because we're never having sex again." Addison informed him.

"I think you actually broke my finger." Hallie grimaced, examining her hand.

"Oh my God!" Addison panted. "I am so sorry, Hal!"

"Please, I've given birth to 5 children! One who weighed 11 pounds! I say 'Ha!' to a broken finger." Hallie paused and brought her bruised, swollen, and slightly crooked finger up to her face. "Ha!"

"Be that as it may…" Derek began, snaking his arm around her waist (he was trying to suck up to make up for the spectacle he had helped create earlier that day). "Let's go fix you up. I think you're right… I think it's broken."

"Okay… Fine. Good luck, Addie." Hallie said, giving her best friend a hug. "We love you. We can't wait to meet our godson!"

"Thank you for everything, Hallie." Addison said tearfully. "I'm sorry about your finger."

"No problem." Hallie said, smiling at her one last time before Derek guided her out.

"Are you okay, baby?" Mark asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead with a washcloth.

"I'm better now that you're…" Addison's eyes widened as a strong contraction hit her. "Oh my God, I _hate_ you!"

* * *

Addison fell back against the sheets, struggling to catch her breath as the first cries of their child filled the room. Mark pressed his cheek again her forehead, still squeezing her hand tightly.

"You did so great, baby… You are so amazing." Mark murmured to her.

They watched, unable to take their eyes off of their son as Miranda cleaned him up, weighed him, and checked over him. It seemed like a lifetime before she finally brought him over to meet them.

"Baby Sloan… Meet your mommy and daddy. Seven pounds, six ounces." Miranda announced, placing the baby in Addison's arms. "10 fingers, 10 toes. Perfect 10 on the Apgar."

"Oh my God…" Addison whispered softly, her jaw slightly open. "I can't believe he's real. He's too beautiful to be real."

"He's so…" A single tear rolled down Mark's cheek as he tried to find the words to describe his son. "Pink."

Addison laughed softly through her tears, snuggling the baby close to her body. "Yes, he is very pink…"

"Hey Monkey." Mark whispered to their baby. "I'm your daddy… I gave you your eyes."

"But I gave you your hair." Addison added.

"I'm sorry I was such an idiot earlier." Mark murmured, stroking the shock of fuzz on the baby's head. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I never though that he'd come today."

"It's okay…" Addison assured him. "I know you'd never hurt me on purpose. He's here now, and we're a family…"

"A family…" Mark smiled and gently lowered his lips to Addison's head, then their baby's.

"Are you hungry, little one?" Addison asked their baby softly.

Addison expertly got the baby to latch onto her breast, and was pleased when he eagerly began to eat. "Hungry little guy, huh?"

"So they do serve a greater purpose…" Mark said softly in amazement, watching his son eat. He lightly ran his hand over the back of the baby's head.

Addison laughed softly. "Yeah, they do… But the other purpose is fun, too."

"Does it… Hurt?" Mark asked, still watching her. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare."

Addison smiled. "It's fine. It doesn't hurt. It feels like he's tugging on me, but it's not painful."

"He needs a name." Mark pointed out, brushing his finger down his son's cheek.

"I was thinking…" Addison said slowly, still not sure how he would react to her idea. "About Justin."

Mark gave her sad smile. "I think that's a wonderful idea."

"What about a middle name?"

"Your maiden name." Mark suggested.

Addison smiled. "I'd like that."

"Justin Montgomery Sloan." Mark tried the name out.

Justin disconnected his mouth from his mother's breast and stared up at his father. Mark laughed softly, feeling tears sting at the back of his eyes.

"I think he likes it." Addison whispered. "Do you want to hold him?"

"I thought you'd never give him up." Mark teased, carefully taking the baby from her.

The baby's huge blue eyes looked up at him and he let out a tiny yawn. Mark just sat there, gently rocking him.

"What do you think?" Addison asked softly.

"I know it sounds cliché… But I really can't believe we made him." Mark murmured. "He's perfect."

"And pink." Addison giggled.

"And pink." Mark agreed, smiling at her. "It's so weird… Knowing that I would lay my life down on the line for this little person I just met."

"I know what you mean."

"Thank you."

"I feel like I should be thanking you." Addison said.

"Well, I had the fun part. You did all of the work."

"Yes, but you were the one making peanut butter and pickle sandwiches at 4 a.m." Addison said with a wink. "We should both take some credit."

"Deal." Mark said, looking back at their son, who was sleeping in his arms.

"I love you." Addison said softly.

"I love you too, Addie."

* * *

_Next up, we'll have the angst/humor/fuzzy variety combo pack because that's how I like things. I think I have about 3 more chapters._

_Dr. McSweetie is taking my gallbladder out on Friday the 13__th__, ack. Wish me luck._


	18. Chapter 18

_Sorry, this one got really long, but I liked the structure. :)_

* * *

At recess on the elementary school playground, Justin shyly held up a dandelion for Kara. "I picked this for you."

The other six-year-old blushed and took it from him. "Thank you, Justin."

"Hey! Watch what I can do!" Justin exclaimed, running over to the monkey bars. "My dad calls me Monkey. I can be a monkey, wanna see?"

"I don't know…" Kara looked warily up at the monkey bars. "It doesn't look safe."

Justin climbed to the top rung of the monkey bars and swung his legs up on either side of his hands, turning so that his head was hanging down and his legs were wrapped around the bar.

"Justin, get down from there!" Kara cried worriedly.

"Look, I can do it with no hands!" Justin let his hands hang down beside his head.

"Justin!" Kara covered her hands with her eyes. "Stop it!"

"No, you have to watch this! I saw the gymnasts on TV do it! I'm going to swing around and land on my feet!"

Kara peeked at him through her fingers. "You're not a gymnast! It's too high!"

Justin swung back and forth in his upside down position, building momentum. He attempted to rotate his body to land on his feet, but didn't achieve the position he planned. Kara screamed in terror when he landed on his head, and his body fell to the ground, limp.

"Justin!" Kara screeched. She rushed over to him and knelt down beside him. "Justin! Can you hear me?"

Alicia, one of Kara's triplet sisters, looked over at Justin from the swings with fear in her eyes. "Is he okay?"

"Go get Mrs. Thomas!" Kara ordered. She squeezed Justin's hand between her fingers. "Justin, can you hear me?"

"Head… Hurts." Justin whimpered.

"Do you know where you are?" Kara asked anxiously, obviously trained by her father.

"Central Park?" Justin asked.

Kara shook her head slowly. "No, we're at school, Justin. Do you know what today is?"

"Sunday?"

Kara choked back tears. "No… It's Tuesday. Do you know who I am?"

"Kara."

"Okay." Kara breathed a sigh of relief. "Hang in there! You're going to be okay, Justin. I promise."

* * *

"Dr. Sloan." Mark's secretary, Ann, poked her head into his office. "You have a phone call."

"I'm kind of busy, Ann." Mark muttered, scribbling some notes on a piece of paper.

Ann cleared her throat and fidgeted. "I think you want to take this."

"I somehow doubt that."

"Dr. Montgomery-Sloan is with a patient, and I'm telling you, one of you needs to take this call. It's… It's about your son."

Mark's head snapped up and he dropped his pen. "What about my son?"

* * *

By the time Addison and Mark reached the hospital, Justin was unconscious, and being tended to by Derek.

"Derek!" Mark exclaimed in relief when he saw his best friend with his son.

"I came down as soon as I heard." Derek said, lifting one of Justin's eyelids and shining a light into his eye. "Kara called Hallie and she called me and told me to be on the lookout for him."

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Addison asked tearfully, stroking her son's hand.

Derek checked the other eyes. "Unequal pupils… I'd say he has a pretty bad concussion."

"Oh my God…" Addison whispered.

"Hallie said that Kara said he was on the monkey bars." Derek explained. "He tried to go upside down, but he fell off and hit his head."

"Why would he do that?" Addison murmured.

Suddenly, Justin's body began jerking around the bed. His arms and legs flailed about wildly while his parents watched in horror.

"He's seizing!" Derek swore under his breath and hit the button for a nurse. He frantically dug through a drawer until he found the syringe he was looking for. "Addie, Mark. I'm sorry. You have to go."

Addison stood there, frozen in terror as her little boy thrashed around. She watched Derek plunge the needle into his delicate skin until Mark put his arm around her shoulder and guided her out of the exam room, out of the emergency room doors, hoping the fresh air would help her.

"I'm his mother! I should be in there with him!" Addison insisted.

"There's nothing we can do, Addie." Mark said gently. "We're not neurologists. Derek is."

"He's working on my baby!" Addison shrieked.

"He's my baby too, Addison. He's going to be okay." Mark said, putting his hand on her arm.

Addison yanked her arm out of his grasp angrily. "You don't know that!"

Mark ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "You're right. I don't. But I trust Derek. He trusts me to do my job with his children. He's trusted you to do your job with his wife. Now, we have to trust him to do his job with our son. Can you do that?"

"I don't have a choice." Addison whispered.

Mark pointed to her distended abdomen. "You have to stay calm so that your body can take care of our baby girl. You can't take care of Justin right now, but you _can_ take care of _her_."

Addison paced back and forth, tears freely flowing down her face. "I can't even take care of myself right now."

"Addie..." Mark pleaded. "Please sit down and try to relax."

"Relax." Addison laughed bitterly. "You want me to relax. Sure, my son was flailing around uncontrollably in there, but I'll just relax! How are _you _so relaxed? Don't you care about him at all? My son is hurting! What if his brain is bleeding?! He could _die_! Do you even care?!"

Mark looked pained by her words. He raised his voice to her, a little more than he meant to. "Of course I care, Addison! Damn it! In case you've forgotten, he's _my_ son too, and I'm every bit as fucking scared as you are! I'm just trying to be calm because obviously, standing out here screaming and crying at each other hasn't done anything to help Justin!"

"I don't know else what to do!" Addison screeched, her voice breaking with sobs.

"Calm down, damn it! Please, for me, for Justin, and most of all, for the baby! I'm begging you! You could lose her if you don't calm down. Then how would you feel?" Mark felt as though he was being cruel, but he had to get through to her.

Addison finally heeded Mark's words and took a seat on a nearby bench. "What if we lose him?"

"I don't know, baby." Mark replied honestly, gripping her hand between both of his. "We just have to trust Derek, and we have to pray."

"You pray?" Addison asked, slightly surprised.

"I do… Sometimes. Do you?"

"Sometimes."

"Then we need to do it now." Mark pressed his head against Addison's and whispered a soft prayer. When he finished, he wiped the tears from her eyes and his, then kissed her cheeks. "He'll be okay. He has to be."

They sat on the bench, holding each other for several minutes before the sound of a throat clearing behind them forced them to turn around and see Derek standing there.

"How is he?" Mark asked softly, pulling Addison closer.

"He's unconscious right now. He's responding to stimuli, so it's not a coma, but still, he's unconscious… So the next few hours are critical. If he wakes up soon and everything's okay, then there shouldn't be permanent damage."

"If he doesn't?" Addison asked timidly.

Derek looked down. "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it."

"Did you find anything else wrong with him?" Addison asked fearfully.

Derek nodded. "He broke his neck. We'll immobilize it so he can heal. I don't think there's any spinal cord damage, thank God, but we'll check with some scans.."

"Can we see him?" Mark asked anxiously.

"Of course." Derek offered Addison his hand and helped her to her feet, and gave Mark a reassuring pat on the back. "Then, I want to get the scans… But he's a tough kid, you know. Like his parents."

* * *

"He's waking up!" Mark announced, noticing the flutter of Justin's eyelids. Addison jumped out of her chair, where a half an hour had seemed like an eternity, and dashed to his bedside.

"Justin, honey?" Addison asked timidly.

"What happened?" Justin asked dazedly.

"You got hurt on the monkey bars, sweetie." Addison said, squeezing his hand in hers tightly. "Kara said you were hanging upside down. What were you doing?"

"I don't remember…" Justin confessed. "I don't know what happened."

Mark cleared his throat. "Buddy, I know I call you monkey, but remember… You're a person, not a real monkey, so you have to be careful. Promise you won't do that again?"

"Promise, Daddy. Did Kara's daddy help me?" Justin asked with a yawn.

"He did." Addison told him.

"So did Kara." Justin told them.

"She did?" Mark asked, slightly surprised.

"Kara told Alicia to tell the teacher that I got hurt, then she stayed with me and held my hand." Justin explained. "That's all I remember."

"That was really nice of Kara." Addison said with a smile. "You should thank her."

"You might have cooties now, Monkey. From letting a girl hold your hand." Mark teased with a wink.

"Kara doesn't have cooties! She's not a girl. She's… Kara."

"Ohhh, I see." Mark nodded knowingly.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Justin asked Mark hopefully.

"Sure, Monkey."

"You can't tell anyone. Not even Mommy. This is guy stuff." Justin explained.

"Of course." Mark said, amused, and allowed Justin to pull his head close. Justin put his mouth to Mark's ear, blocking the sound with one hand, and using his small finger to plug Mark's other ear (after all, he didn't want his secret to leak out).

"I love Kara." Justin whispered to his father.

It was loud enough for Addison to hear, since Justin had not yet mastered the art of whispering quietly. She smiled to herself, but decided to let Justin think that he and his father shared a secret.

For Addison, Mark, Hallie, and Derek, it had never been a question of whether Justin Sloan would fall in love with a Shepherd girl, considering how frequently they spent time together – it was just a question of which one.

* * *

One day, many years later, Addison opened the door to Justin's room to leave his laundry for him to put away after soccer practice.

The first thing she saw was her seventeen-year-old son's naked body. The second thing she saw was Kara's.

"Oh my God!" Addison shrieked, dropping the basket full of laundry. She covered her eyes with one hand.

"Oh my God!" Kara gasped, scrambled around and pulled the covers over top of her head.

"Oh my God!" Justin groaned, quickly pulling a blanket over top of him. "I didn't know you were home, Mom!"

"Ditto! What happened to soccer?!" Addison screamed.

"It was canceled for the rain!"

"Oh my God… I'm just… Leaving." Addison quickly backed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"Oh my God, I can never look your mom in the eye again!" Kara exclaimed, slowly peeking her way out from under the covers. "Do you think she'll tell my parents?"

"Are you kidding?" Justin snorted, pulling on his boxer shorts. "The way our parents are with each other? They'll know within the next 5 minutes."

"I'm calling them myself then." Kara decided, reaching for her cell phone.

"Wait, what?!" Justin exclaimed. "You can't do that!"

"Either way, I'm dead!" Kara argued. "At least this way, it might not be as painful."

"It's going to be painful for me! Your dad will come after my balls with a scalpel!"

Kara ignored him and began dialing numbers into her cell phone. Justin groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "I'm going to be a eunuch."

* * *

"Mom, what's going on?" Addison's 11-year-old daughter asked curiously. She had quickly left her room to find her mother when she heard screaming. "Where's Justin?"

"He's, um…" Addison blocked the door to Justin's room with her body. "Studying."

"What's he studying?" Amelie asked curiously.

"He's studying, um…" Addison swallowed. "Anatomy."

"Oh!" Amelie's face brightened. "I want to see what he's studying! I love it when he shows me what he does in high school!"

"Absolutely not! You will never _ever_ study anatomy!" Addison shrieked. "Not for ten years, anyway!"

Amelie's eyes widened at her mother's outburst. "Are you okay, Mom? I heard you scream a minute ago…"

"Addison?" Mark's voice came from the top of the steps. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine." Addison mumbled. "I just had a long day. And I just saw something I didn't want to see."

Mark quickly walk down the hallway to his wife and daughter, then looked at Amelie. "Hey pumpkin, would you mind letting me talk to your mom?"

"Uh huh, sure. I'm going to get a snack." Amelie announced, taking off down the steps.

"Don't spoil your dinner!" Mark called after her, then turned back to his wife. "What happened, Addie?"

"I just caught _your_ son having sex with Kara!" Addison hissed at Mark, once Amelie was out of earshot.

Mark blinked a few times before bursting into loud laughter.

"You think that's funny?" Addison asked, stunned by his reaction. "He had sex with her in our house!"

"Lighten up, Addie! Like you never had sex in your parents' house?"

"I was smart enough never to get caught!" Addison claimed.

"Are they being careful?" Mark asked.

"Do you think I stopped to look around for condoms or packs of birth control?" Addison asked, planting her hands on her hips. "I got the hell out of there as fast as I could!"

"Justin's smart. So is Kara. I'm sure they're being careful." Mark assured her.

"I'm smart. So are you." Addison pointed out. "We've still screwed up and forgotten the protection a couple of times. In case you've forgotten, go take a look at your son."

"That's true…" Mark murmured, scratching his jaw.

"Do we… Do we tell Derek and Hallie?" Addison asked.

She'd barely gotten the question out before Mark's cell phone started ringing. With a sigh, he pulled it out of his back pocket and frowned at the display. He held it up for Addison to see: "Derek."

"Something tells me that they know." Mark sighed.

* * *

"Your son seduced my sweet, innocent little girl!" Derek shouted. He and Hallie had rushed directly over to the Sloan's house after Kara called, only stopping to tell Addison and Mark that they were on their way.

Addison cleared her throat. "Well, let me tell you. The position I caught them in didn't make your 'little girl' look so innocent."

"People!" Hallie held her hands up. "Let's stop blaming each other here! We're all good parents. We can't control what our kids do."

"Why not?" Derek scowled.

"Because they're nearly grown up!" Hallie pointed out. "Where are they?"

"They're hiding in Justin's room." Addison said with a sigh.

"Probably doing it." Mark quipped.

"Not. Helping." Derek said through gritted teeth.

"One of us needs to lecture them." Addison decided.

"Should we draw straws?" Hallie suggested.

"How about this…." Derek said thoughtfully. "How old were we all when we lost our virginities? I was 17."

"16." Mark responded.

"16." Hallie answered. "Worst 3 minutes of my life."

"19. Worst 30 seconds of my life." Addison muttered.

"Aw, 30 seconds? Really?" Hallie gave her a sympathetic look.

"So Addie is the only one who can talk to them without being hypocritical, since the rest of us were the same age or younger! She wins… Or loses, really." Derek said.

"Right! I agree!" Mark chimed in, relieved. "She's an OB/GYN anyway! It's her job to lecture teenagers about sex."

"Wait a minute! Haven't I suffered enough today?! I'm the one who walked in on it!" Addison argued.

"She's right. We all need to talk to them. They belong to all of us." Hallie sighed.

"No time like the present… I'll go get them." Mark walked up the stairs. His friends could hear his pounding on the door and his muffled shouts to Kara and Justin. "Hey! If you're naked, get dressed! I'm coming in!"

* * *

"How long has this been going on?" Derek demanded.

Kara and Justin looked at each other guiltily, and he spoke. "Um… About 3 months."

"Have you used protection?" Hallie asked.

"Of course!" Kara assured them.

"_Every_ time?" Addison asked.

"Yes!" Justin said, bobbing his head up and down to emphasize his point.

"Where did you get them?!" Derek growled.

"Uh… The pharmacy! Where do you think? We're old enough to buy condoms." Kara said with a roll of her eyes.

"If you need ever need any, just let me know." Mark said. "No questions asked."

"You're encouraging this?!" Derek asked incredulously.

"I'm not encouraging anything!" Mark defended himself. "They're going to boink no matter what we do!"

"Only because your son is a horndog!"

"It's not all him, daddy!" Kara crossed her arms. "I like sex too!"

"Oh my God." Derek covered his ears. "I didn't hear that."

"See?! I just want them to be safe about it!" Mark explained.

"Do you know what kind of dangers you're getting yourself into?!" Derek turned back to the teens and ranted. "You could get herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia…"

"Yes…" Addison agreed. "Yes, you could. In fact, I have some pictures that I would like to show you…"

"Oh, please, Mom! Not the pictures!" Justin pleaded, but Addison wouldn't hear it. She handed each of them copies of pictures featuring each STD that Derek had mentioned. Kara and Justin grimaced at the sights.

"See? Look at the pus, and the blisters, and the—" Addison was interrupted.

"We're not going to get STDs! We've only been with each other." Kara informed them, turning the picture covered pieces of paper upside down and setting them on the floor.

"Then you could get the worst STD of all, PREGNANCY!" Derek shouted at them.

"I think it's time that we tell Justin how he was conceived." Addison suggested.

"What?!" Mark looked warily at Justin. "I don't think he really needs to hear that, Addie."

"No, he needs to understand what can happen in the heat of the moment." Addison explained. "Justin, you were conceived on top of a ferris wheel at Cedar Point. Your father and I didn't have a condom. 9 months later, here you were."

"That's what you did when you got stuck on the ride?!" Hallie said, her jaw dropping in shock. "No wonder you came off of it so sweaty…"

"What?" Justin stared at them at shocked. "I was an accident?!"

"Accident is a strong word…" Mark said, trying to think of a way to recast it. "I'd call you a surprise. A nice surprise."

"Oh my God!" Justin moaned, covering his face with his hands. "Not only do my parents have sex, but they did it in public!"

"So you see?" Derek said, wagging his finger at Justin and Kara. "That's why you always use protection."

Addison pulled her prescription pad from her purse and began scribbling on it. She squeezed her eyes shut, signed her name to the prescription, and then thrust it to Kara. "Here! Just take it!"

Kara stared at the sideways "8" that Addison had written under the "number of refills" section of the prescription slip. "Um, Aunt Addie? I don't think that the pharmacy will accept 'infinity' for the number of refills."

"Right." Addison sighed, took the prescription back, and crumpled it in her fist. She re-wrote the prescription for three refills and handed it to her goddaughter. "Come to my office in a month for a blood pressure check, then I will refer you to a _different_ gynecologist, because really, it creeps _me _out."

"I think we're done here." Mark said, noticing the terrified look in the teenagers' eyes. "Come on… Drink anyone?"

"Yeah…" Derek nodded. "Got any Scotch? Forget the glass. I'll just take the bottle…"

"Well, that went well." Kara said sarcastically once their parents had left the Sloans' living room.

"Yeah. Good thing they didn't freak out or anything." Justin rolled his eyes.

* * *

Fifteen years after Justin first said he loved Kara, and four years after Addison discovered them in bed together, Mark found himself putting on a tuxedo for the ceremony that would turn Kara Lynn Shepherd into Kara Lynn Shepherd-Sloan.

He was tying his tie when Amelie stomped into the room, looking pissed. "Dad! This dress makes my hips look huge!"

Much to Amelie's dismay (and Mark's delight), the fifteen year old was built like a stick figure, and was rarely noticed by boys. Addison, a late bloomer herself, warned her husband that in a few years, Amelie would be fighting them off with the stick. He was considering commissioning one made of steel.

"What hips?" Mark asked, stifling a laugh.

"I don't want to wear this horrible salmon-colored dress!" Amelie complained. "Kara said it would be _pink._ This is so _not_ pink, it is _salmon_!"

"Your mother wears salmon-colored scrubs all of the time at work, and they look great on her." said Mark (who would have had no idea that was what color they were if he hadn't heard Addison say it over and over). "You'll be fine."

"Are you kidding? Those clash with _her_ hair too! You're just too whipped to say anything negative about her!" Amelie scowled.

"Do you have PMS? Is that it?" Mark asked tiredly.

"PMS!" Amelie shrieked. "Why do you always blame it on PMS?! Why can't I just be mad at YOU?"

"Amelie Rose Sloan…" Mark heard his wife's voice behind him, and gratefully turned to see her putting earrings in her ears. "Get in your room, now, and get ready to go. Now, or no Dolce shopping trip next weekend."

"My name is NOT Amelie! It's AMIE!" Amelie yelled.

"That's funny. I don't remember signing my name to 'Amie' on your birth certificate." Mark quipped.

"I hate my name! Just because that was your host mom's name in France, why do _I _have to suffer?" Amelie demanded of Addison.

"What can we say? We just wanted to torture you as much as possible." Addison said with a roll of her eyes.

"I want to be called Amie!"

"You can be called Princess Frostine of Candyland for all I care as long as you get your ass back in your room and get dressed!" Addison said firmly, with her hands pressed on her hips.

Amelie glared at her and stalked back into her room, slamming the door behind her.

"Hormones…" Mark muttered and pinched his nasal bridge between his thumb and forefinger. "God, I miss when she called me daddy and danced on my feet… Is she ever going to stop hating us?"

"Eventually." Addison shrugged. "Hey, feel lucky. She likes you better than me."

"God, then I can't imagine how you must feel…"

"It's part of the mother-daughter relationship." Addison reminded him, then went back into their room to get her shoes.

"Amie being a bitch, as usual?" Justin asked, sticking his head out of his room.

"Don't call your sister a bi—" Mark replied automatically, then stopped himself. "Damn it, you're about to be married in an hour, and I'm still talking to you like a kid."

Justin smiled like his mother and Mark suddenly realized that he saw his son as a man, and not a little boy. He thought of all of the Little League games he'd watch him play in, the fishing trips he'd taken him on, and how happy Mark had been only a few weeks before when he'd watched Justin get his business degree. Now, Justin was off to Harvard to get his law degree, and Kara had a teaching job lined up.

Rapid snapping right in front of his face shook him out of his reminiscence. "Yo. Dad. You in there? If you are, I could use some help with this tie."

"Yeah." Mark cleared his throat. "Sure."

"How do I look?"

"Grown up." Mark said, somewhat sadly. "You're just all grown up."

"I'll still come home sometimes, you know… I'm just moving to Massachusetts… Not Mars."

"I know… You'll take good care of her, right? And yourself?"

Justin wrapped his arms around his father. "Of course. I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Monkey."

* * *

"Are you sure they're going to be okay? You don't think they're too young?" Mark whispered to Addison, a weary expression on his face as he watched the bridesmaids come down the aisle.

"They'll be fine. No, honey, I don't think they're too young. They grew up loving each other, Mark." Addison studied Mark's sad facial expression, and reached down to squeeze his hand. "Honey, what's wrong? I'm supposed to be the one whining and bawling that no one will ever take as good of care of my baby as me!"

"He's my Monkey." Mark mumbled.

Addison's face softened. "He'll always be your Monkey… He's just… Taller now."

"Too tall." Mark muttered, watching Justin fidget nervously at the altar. "Taller than I am."

"Oh, baby…" Addison laughed softly and hugged her husband. "If you're this way with Justin, I can't imagine how you'll be with Amelie."

"I won't be anything with Amelie, because she is never getting married." Mark said firmly.

They shut up and stood as the first chords of "Here Comes the Bride" rang out. Kara was smiling confidently, and Derek was looking quite emotional, though he'd already walked two of his five daughters down the aisle. Though he knew he was supposed to be admiring the bride, Mark snuck a look back at his son. He'd never seen Justin look so happy; he couldn't take his eyes off of his bride. It didn't seem like so many years before that Mark had been looking Addison that way; certainly not 29 years.

"Maybe you're right." Mark whispered in his wife's ear, slipping an arm around her waist to give her a squeeze. "I think they will be okay."

* * *

_Two chapters left, kiddies._


End file.
